Dual Life Refraction
by Cyblade Silver
Summary: Imakarum Mirabilis comes to Cloud Gate to deal with the Guyver incursions. Only there's one small issue that has to be dealt with first. . .
1. Dual Life Refraction

_**Disclaimer:** I've said it several times before: Guyver belongs to Yoshiki Takaya. I am not Yoshiki Takaya. However, I have at least partial ownership of Sayuri, Hikari, Akane and Yukari. Partial, because if anyone wants to pick this idea up and run with it, I'll be happy to let them._

**Dual Life Refraction.**

The whirring of helicopter blades was more clearly audible to the passengers of this particular helicopter than was intended by its design, but as those onboard the helicopter possessed greater than human senses, that couldn't really be helped. Four of the five passengers were sitting back in their seats; hands folded neatly in their laps, staring forward at nothing in particular. Obedient soldiers to their cause.

Imakarum Mirabilis crossed her legs at the ankles and stared out the window of the helicopter. She had been ordered to come here, to support Lord Fried'rich van Purg'stall in his duties within Chronos' Japanese branch. However, her duties would also include dealing with the Guyvers if either of them had the temerity to show up.

When the helicopter with her and her Zoanoid aides landed on the rooftop helipad of Cloud Gate, Imakarum stepped out and smiled as she felt the wind in her hair. It was good of Lord Alkanphel to have given her this second chance at life; she was thankful to him as well as being in his debt. And to repay that debt, she would serve her Lord to the end of her life.

The doors opened, and Imakarum waited until the four Zoanoids had left the transport before she herself left the helicopter.

OoO

Imakarum, having been given strict orders from Lord Alkanphel to assist Lord Purg'stall with the management of the Japanese Section, rose from his seat and left the helicopter that had brought him to Chronos' Cloud Gate. He could sense Lord Purg'stall waiting for him on top of the skyscraper, but oddly there seemed to be another Zoalord waiting with him. Perhaps Lord Shin?

Imakarum continued forward, wanting to speak to Lord Purg'stall so that he could receive his orders and take his place in the service of Lord Alkanphel. Hearing his own name spoken, Imakarum hurried his stride and crossed the roof in half the time it would have taken him at his original pace.

"I have come here as ordered, Lord-"

When he saw the other Zoalord, a Zoalord who was most definitely not Lord Shin, Imakarum used half of his top ground speed to reach the location of both Lord Purg'stall and the unknown other Zoalord. The first thing he noticed was that the other Zoalord seemed to be wearing his clothes. And, as if that wasn't strange enough, Lord Purg'stall was apparently speaking with this strange new Zoalord as if they were old friends.

They could have been, Imakarum knew, but he still though it was strange that this new Zoalord was wearing his clothes.

"You understand your duties then, Imakarum?"

"You haven't explained my duties yet, Lord Purg'stall," Imakarum informed the silver-haired Zoalord.

The eyes of both Zoalords turned toward him, and Imakarum noticed that the other Zoalord was wearing a visor much like his own. Imakarum wondered for a moment what this new Zoalord's role within Chronos was. Had Lord Alkanphel made him for a certain purpose?

"Imakarum? But then-" Lord Purg'stall looked from Imakarum to the other Zoalord who was standing in front of him.

What Imakarum was more immediately focused on, however, was the reaction of the other Zoalord. And more than that, his appearance. Not only was this new Zoalord wearing his uniform, but his face and body looked almost exactly like his own!

The bones of this new Zoalord's face were slightly finer-looking than his own, and the body slightly more slender, but those were where the physical dissimilarities all ended.

_-Lord Purg'stall, did Lord Alkanphel- did Dr. Balkus... Have I been cloned?-_

OoO

For the first time in his long life, Fried'rich van Purg'stall was completely at a loss. Standing on his right was Imakarum Mirabilis, the thirteenth Zoalord to be created and the twelfth Zoalord in Chronos' hierarchy, and on his left was... Imakarum Mirabilis, the thirteenth Zoalord to be created and the twelfth Zoalord in Chronos' hierarchy. The only, in fact the most obvious, difference between them was that the Imakarum standing on his left was female, while the Imakarum on his right was male.

It was all very confusing.

Now with Lord and Lady Imakarum staring at one another, each seemingly trying to determine if the other was real, Fried'rich felt that it would be an ideal time to find out what was going on. He had been speaking with Lady Imakarum, speaking to her as if she was his subordinate. It had in fact been Lord Imakarum that had been sent to Cloud Gate as his subordinate, had it not?

Fried'rich remembered Lord Imakarum Mirabilis; a Zoalord that had been recreated from the body of the Proto-Zoalord Masaki Murakami to replace the traitor Richard Guyot. Still the fact remained that Fried'rich could also recall, with perfect clarity, Lady Imakarum Mirabilis; a Zoalord that had been recreated from the body of the Proto-Zoalord Sayuri Murakami to replace the traitor Regina Guyot. Two sets of memories, both as clear as the other.

Richard and Regina Guyot; two Zoalords who had both held the position of Twelfth in the hierarchy of the Twelve Chronos Overlords. That was just not possible.

The mental image of Richard Guyot was very clear; a tall tanned blond man with a powerfully built physique. Unfortunately, the mental image of Regina Guyot was also very clear; a tall tanned blonde woman of Amazonian proportions. Rubbing his temples to stave off an impending headache, Fried'rich looked back up at Lord and Lady Imakarum.

They had both removed the others' visor, and were now staring into the others' eyes.

"Imakarum! Both of you, come with me."

Lord and Lady Imakarum both turned, staring at him for a moment before they bowed and followed him without a word. Leading them back to his helicopter, Fried'rich mulled over just what he was going to tell the other Overlords.

It would be an interesting conversation, no doubt.

The Celestial Hall had been filled nearly to capacity when the three Zoalords arrived. Fried'rich was not looking forward to explaining his actions to either Lord Alkanphel or Dr. Balkus, however the issue of Lord and Lady Imakarum could not be left unresolved. Pushing open the doors to the Celestial Hall, Fried'rich caught sight of Lord Jearvill Bun Hiyern. It would be interesting to note his reaction to the situation.

"Ah, Lady Imakarum. Always a pleasure to behold such beauty," Lord Hiyern said, bowing slightly so that he could take the hand of the female Twelfth Zoalord and kiss the back.

"Lord Hiyern?"

"Ah, Lord Purg'stall, how nice of you to-"

This was the point when Lord Hiyern noticed the other Imakarum. Lord Imakarum. Lord Hiyern stopped, he blinked, than looked back at Lady Imakarum.

"Well now, this _is_ an interesting situation."

OoO

_-Masaki?-_

_-Yes, my Lord?-_

_-Sayuri?-_

_-How may I serve you, Lord Alkanphel?-_

Alkanphel shifted his gaze from his last female child to his last male child. It was odd, the way that he could perfectly recall ordering Masaki Murakami to be reprocessed while at the same time he could recall ordering the reprocessing of Sayuri. Neither memory included the other, and yet somehow both of his newest children stood before him now.

Alkanphel could remember Hamilcal stating that he would never trust a man with power that was second only to Alkanphel's own; could remember Hamilcal selecting a wealthy young heiress to become his Twelfth Zoalord. Of course, Hamilcal's suspicions had returned severalfold once he had found that the woman who had become Chronos' Twelfth Zoalord had in fact poisoned her own older brother to become the sole heiress to her family's wealth. Someone who would do that was not to be trusted lightly.

He could also recall Hamilcal informing him of the selection of Richard Guyot to become the Twelfth Zoalord. This was all very strange.

Hamilcal seemed as shocked by this new development as Alkanphel himself was, but his old friend was outwardly perfectly calm. Hamilcal was searching Chronos' database; looking for the records of the latest Zoalord processing. Alkanphel stepped forward to watch over the progress of his Second Zoalord. What he saw was not at all what he had been expecting.

There were two records pertaining to the creation of Imakarum Mirabilis; one which stated that Masaki Murakami had been reprocessed, and the other stating that it had been Sayuri Murakami. Alkanphel watched as Hamilcal proceeded to make sure that the records could be verified. Both of them turned out to be valid.

_-What is this!-_

_-Calm yourself, Hamilcal. Perhaps this could be made to work in our favor.-_

_-I suppose you would be right about that.-_

Alkanphel turned his gaze back to his two Twelfth Zoalords. Walking up to his newest children, Alkanphel was unsurprised when they both bowed to him.

"Imakarum," Alkanphel said, focusing his eyes on the male Twelfth Zoalord.

"My Lord."

"Hikari," Alkanphel pronounced, shifting his gaze to the female.

"My Lord?" Sayuri looked confused.

"I think it would be best if you took another name. To avoid confusion, you understand?"

"Yes, my Lord. I understand."

Alkanphel reached out and gently touched the shoulder of the newly renamed Hikari Mirabilis. _-I am certain that you will find a place for yourself here, Sayuri.-_

_-Yes, my Lord. Thank you.-_

"Fried'rich?"

"Yes, Lord Alkanphel?"

"Take Imakarum and Hikari and return to Cloud Gate."

"Yes, Lord Alkanphel."

Alkanphel nodded as the three Zoalords left the Celestial Hall. This would most assuredly prove interesting.

OoO

Standing on the rooftop of one of the skyscrapers surrounding Cloud Gate, four Guyvers stood watch.

"Nothing seems to be happening," the female Guyver III said, staring boredly at the towering Chronos building in front of them.

"Well, if anything had happened, I think we would have missed it with how preoccupied we were," The male Guyver III said, his tone of voice slightly clipped.

Sho, standing next to his own female counterpart Yukari, silently agreed with Agito. When Akane and Yukari had appeared; literally appeared out of thin air, the first thing that Sho had thought was that Chronos had created another pair of look-alike Zoanoids. Something like what Aptom had been before the Lost Number had become their ally.

He and Agito had attacked without any hesitation.

Of course, the fact that the other two Guyvers had done the exact same thing hadn't made a very good impression on them at all. Sho had faced off against Yukari, though he hadn't known her name at that point; he hadn't even known that she was a girl. Agito had attacked Akane with more ferocity and skill than Sho had found himself using against Yukari.

But then, Akane had also attacked with surprising speed and ferocity. She had matched Agito move for move, always seeming to be able to predict whatever action he was going to take. Yukari had been that way, too, now that Sho thought about it.

He'd ended up grappling with her, and that was when he'd finally noticed that Yukari had had a Control Medal. Once he'd recognized that for what it was, he had tried to contact her over the telepathic link that all Guyvers shared. When she had responded, more than that when she had revealed herself to be a girl, Sho had nearly fallen out of the sky in shock.

Here was another Guyver, another Guyver I, and she was a girl. Once the two of them had managed to talk down Agito and Akane, things had gotten a little calmer. Stories had been exchanged, and the four of them had decided to work together. Both Akane and Agito had been in favor of the idea. Four Guyvers against a single Zoalord...

"I suppose you'd be right about that," Akane Makashima said indifferently.

"Back to the matter at hand, then," Agito said. "As Akane most likely knows already, there is only one Zoalord stationed in the Japan Section: Fried'rich van Purg'stall. It should prove quite simple for the four of us to deal with him."

"Especially considering the fact that we now possess two Gigantics," Akane stated, folding her arms and staring at the imposing Chronos building. She was already imagining it as rubble on the ground.

"Yes."

"Yukari and I will transform into Gigantic and draw the attention to us."

"Good. Akane and I will deal with Purg'stall."

"Try not to attract too much attention, you two."

"Yes, Akane," Yukari said, nodding at her Guyver III.

As Akane and Agito leapt off the roof, Sho and Yukari each called on their respective Gigantic. The large cocoons, taller than either of them, appeared behind them and immediately opened up to reveal the armor of the Gigantic Guyver. Both sets of enhanced Guyver armor locked shut around their hosts, venting excess air as they powered up.

The two Guyver Gigantics soared through the air toward Cloud Gate, causing more than a few people on the ground to look up in surprise.

OoO

Inside Cloud Gate, however, it was a different story.

"It seems like the one who battled Neo Zektor has returned with reinforcements," Fried'rich said, staring at the two identical figures on the viewing screen.

Standing just behind him, Imakarum and Hikari Mirabilis watched impassively.

OoO

A virtual army of flight-type Zoanoids were coming at them as they flew toward Cloud Gate. Sho and Yukari reacted quickly to the onslaught, firing their Head Beams at the swarming Zoanoids. Sho extended the huge Vibration Blade on his left arm, slicing open the advancing ranks of Zoanoids before they could do him any harm.

Yukari fired her Head Beams into the mass of bird- and insectlike Zoanoids, killing them before they could even reach her. At the same time, both of them spotted the Vamores. Just as the legions of Vamores started firing their bio-lasers at them. Snapping open the covers of their sonic emitters, Sho and Yukari fired into the mass of bio-blaster type Zoanoids.

The overlapping sonic waves, just enough out of sync that they added power and range to each other, blasted the ranks of Vamore into scattered chunks of falling flesh. The wall of Cloud Gate was also blasted in by the high-frequency sound waves. The two Gigantic Guyvers entered through the hole that they had made.

The Chronos troops inside the building stared in mute shock at the two Gigantic Guyvers inside their building, but only for a few seconds. Then, the army of Hyper Zoanoids that had been stationed at Cloud Gate for this kind of occasion transformed and moved to confront the two Gigantics. Sho and Yukari both drew back their fists, and using the Gigantic power-punch they made quick work of the Hyper Zoanoids in front of them.

_+Fukamachi+_

_+What is it, Makashima+_

_+Akane and I have located the Zoalord. Both of you, come quickly+_

_+We're on our way, Agito.+_

"Yukari!"

"Right, Sho!"

Shedding their Gigantic armors, Yukari and Sho looked for a quick escape rout. Sho spotted an air vent and, nodding to Yukari so she'd follow his lead, tore of the cover and both Guyvers slipped inside. The space inside the vent was larger than Yukari had been expecting; the fin at the top of the Guyver's head didn't even scrape across the ceiling of the vent. Not that Yukari wasn't grateful for the lack of excess noise, she just found the situation a bit strange.

Finally reaching the end of the vent shaft, Sho flew out of it and up the larger, empty shaft with Yukari close behind him. They met up with Agito and Akane in another room, and the four Guyvers proceeded to slaughter their way through the Zoanoids guarding the upper levels.

Once all of the Zoanoids were gone, a task which was accomplished much faster and more easily than any of the four Guyvers had been expecting, they found themselves staring at a flight of stairs that ended at a closed door. Akane and Agito walked quickly up the stairs, while Sho and Yukari hung back and looked around, wondering where the rest of the Zoanoid guards were.

If this was the most important part of Cloud Gate, the place where the Zoalord resided, then why weren't there more Zoanoids guarding it? Sho could sense that there was a Zoalord - wait, two of them - behind the door that they were closing in on. As the door slid open in front of them, Sho saw the interior of the room for the first time.

As well as the two Zoalords standing at the huge bay window at the far end of it.

OoO

_-They've arrived at last,-_ Imakarum pronounced.

_-Yes, all of them.-_

Though he still found it extremely odd to be dealing with someone who was essentially a female version of himself, Imakarum was grateful to have her with him now. Now that he could sense the four Guyvers standing behind them.

"Which one of you is Purg'stall?" he heard Agito Makashima demand.

"His Excellency has left."

"What!" Akane Makashima, the female Guyver III, shouted.

"My companion and I have just installed ourselves and already you come to visit us," Imakarum rested his hand on Hikari's right shoulder. "Perhaps this was truly meant to be."

"Yes, this meeting does have the feeling of destiny about it," Imakarum could see Hikari smiling as she said this.

After being reunited with old friends, who wouldn't smile? Imakarum himself was smiling at the thought of taking Sho back under his wing; it would be just like old times. Imakarum had no doubt that Hikari's thoughts followed the same lines as his; they were of a kind, after all.

"It has been a while," Imakarum turned to look his old friend in the face for the first time since they had been forcibly separated at Mt. Minakami. "Sho."

"I'm so glad to see you again, Yukari," Hikari said. "As my companion said, it has been too long."

Imakarum turned to fully address Sho, and he could hear Hikari doing the same. His smile became warmer and more pronounced as he heard the confusion in the voices of both versions of Guyver I. They were just children; they had never deserved to be forced into this brutal and futile battle. Lord Alkanphel understood that they were simply misguided.

Makashima and his plural were the ones that deserved to die.

"That's impossible!" Agito strove to deny the truth in front of him. Typical. "You are both dead!"

"From the information that my counterpart and I have shared, both of us were dead for a time."

"Yes," Makashima's plural said, sounding shaken. "You were killed by Guyot, at Mt. Minakami."

"Since speaking with my companion, I have learned that - beyond the circumstances of our deaths - we share many similarities," Hikari said. "We were both returned to life by Alkanphel, the glorious leader of Chronos."

"We are both the Thirteenth Zoalord," Imakarum said, again marveling at the circumstances that had brought their groups together. "Created to replace the traitor Guyot."

"Sayuri-mama?" Guyver I asked, sounding lost and alone.

"Come here, Yukari-chan," Hikari spread her arms. Inviting, welcoming.

As Yukari stepped forward, Imakarum smiled warmly. She would be much happier; much safer, working within Chronos.

OoO

Sho stared almost mindlessly forward, most of his attention focused on the - the Zoalord - that wore the face of Mr. Murakami. It couldn't be him, it just couldn't, but it looked so much like him. Sho almost didn't notice Yukari walking up next to him, or the way that she passed him by and headed for the Zoalords standing in front of him.

"Don't be stupid, Yukari," Akane Makashima hissed. "Regardless of what she looks like, that is not the woman you knew."

"You were always too much of a pessimist, Guyver III. Can't you just accept the fact that I've returned? I missed Yukari; I couldn't just stay away."

_+Yukari. Yukari, listen to me. That- that's not her. You told me what Ms. Murakami was like. You told me that she was just like Mr. Murakami. Mr. Murakami would have never worked for Chronos.+_

_+But, Sho... look, it is her+_ Yukari said, sounding not like she wanted to believe that but like she _needed_ to believe it. _+It's Sayuri-mama. She's **not** dead.+_

Sho, who could already feel his own heart breaking at the thought of Mr. Murakami fighting on Chronos' side, could just imagine how Yukari felt. Mr. Murakami had been a very close friend of his, but from what Yukari had said, she and Ms. Murakami had been almost family.

_+Yukari, please just listen to me. Sayuri died, she died at Mt. Minakami. This isn't her. It **isn't**.+_

Sho, while he was trying to convince Yukari, was also trying to convince himself of the exact same thing. But it was hard; Mr. Murakami was standing right in front of him, smiling and holding out his hand. Ms. Murakami was holding out her arms, wearing an expression that Sho could only describe as 'motherly'.

"With how things have been going, mankind is doomed to extinction," Mr. Murakami said.

"The only hope that this world has is to unite under the leadership of Chronos," Ms. Murakami said. "You understand, don't you Yukari? Things will be so much better once Chronos takes control. Just think about it: no more hunger, no more war. This world will become a paradise."

"Why don't you join us?"

"You should both know that that's never going to happen," Agito snapped. "Either the two of you have been brainwashed, or there's someone controlling you. Murakami would have never spoken like this in the past."

"It's true," Sho said, his voice becoming stronger as he tried to convince himself and Yukari. "Mr. Murakami, both of you hated Chronos so much that you were willing to risk your lives to fight them! Wake up!"

"Please, wake up," Yukari pleaded.

"You two are the ones who should wake up," Ms. Murakami said, sounding disappointed. "Lord Alkanphel is the only one who truly deserves to rule this world."

"Lord Alkanphel is this planet's salvation," Mr. Murakami said forcefully. "He is a god!"

"He is not," Sho said bitterly.

"He's murdered countless thousands of people," Yukari said, her grip on Sho's hand no longer so desperately tight. "He turns them into monsters and he manipulates their minds any way he wants."

"He's not anyone's _salvation_!" Sho and Yukari said together. "He's more like the devil!"

"How tragic that you refuse to see the nobility of our goals," Ms. Murakami said, letting her arms fall back to her sides.

"I suppose then that we have no choice but to force you to see the truth," Mr. Murakami said, and Sho could sense the power gathering between his hands.

OoO

As he gathered his energy and fired a massive Gravity Bullet, Imakarum sensed Hikari using her Incision Wave to drive the last of the Guyvers out of Cloud Gate. Nodding to Hikari, Imakarum flew out to face Guyvers I and III. Both sets of them.

He saw the two Guyver Is lying in a crater on the street, moving fitfully as they tried to recover from their fall.

_-I wish we didn't have to do this,-_ Hikari said.

_-I know,-_ Imakarum said, hovering over the prone bodies of Sho and Yukari. _-But we have no other options. They must be made to see the truth; or destroyed if they refuse to do so.-_

_-Yes.-_

_-I know that this is hard on you, Lady Hikari. If you would prefer to deal with Makashima and his plural, I'll understand your reasons.-_

_-Thank you, Lord Imakarum.-_

Out of the corner of his eye, Imakarum saw Hikari fly off.

_-Good hunting, my Lady.-_

_-Thank you, my Lord.-_

"The both of you have been a thorn in Chronos' side for a very long time now; but neither of you are as strong as I thought," Imakarum stated, as he advanced on the still-prone Guyvers. "Or, perhaps neither of you wish to use your full power because you're facing us?"

Imakarum sensed something, some powerful force approaching his position. He leaped backwards to avoid three powerful bursts of bio-laserfire.

_-Hikari? You're keeping Guyver III busy, aren't you?-_

_-Yes, I am. Why?-_

_-Did you send out any of our other soldiers?-_

_-No. Why do you ask?-_

_-I was just attacked,-_ Imakarum said, looking up at something that appeared to be a Hyper Zoanoid.

"This one belongs to me! I'm not letting you kill him!" The maybe-Zoanoid snarled, holding Sho and Yukari under his arms. He apparently hadn't noticed yet that there were two of them.

"Aptom, is that you?" Sho asked, sounding tired and beaten.

"Aptom? You're the one that Dr. Balkus has been so interested in."

_-Hikari!-_

_-What is it, Imakarum?-_

_-Aptom has arrived.-_

_-You're kidding me. Aptom? We've been ordered to capture him; what shall we do?-_

_-I'll pursue. You just make sure that Makashima and his plural aren't in a position to help. Aptom has Sho and Yukari with him; I'll deal with them.-_

"You were a Lost Number before; made merely to be capable of mimicking the forms of other Zoanoids," Imakarum raised his right hand, feeling his power gather at that point. "You've become something more now though, haven't you? This is the perfect opportunity for me to deal with you once and for all!"

Lord Alkanphel had told him, and most likely Hikari as well, about how he had dealt with the Lost Unit. Imakarum fired his Incision Wave, the attack ripping through the air and tearing off one of Aptom's wings and one of his legs. The former Lost Unit fired a volley of bio-missiles at him. Imakarum raised his forcefield, allowing Aptom's missiles to detonate against it.

The falling debris obscured his vision for a few seconds, and when they settled Imakarum smirked. His senses alerted him to something fast coming in his general direction, and Imakarum turned slightly, just as one of the Guyver IIIs went crashing into the side of the building. The other Guyver III attempted to attack Hikari from behind, but she turned quickly and stomped the Dark Guyver out of the air.

_-How are things at your end of the battle, my Lord?-_

_-They could be going smoother, my Lady. I trust that you have been having an easier time of things than I have.-_

_-Given the fact that I've only been facing two enemies, I think that that would be true.-_

Imakarum watched as Hikari grabbed the wrist of the Dark Guyver just behind her and used it to slam Guyver III face-first into the other Guyver III. One of the Guyver IIIs recovered more quickly than the other, however.

_-Hikari!-_

_-What-?-_

The recovered Guyver III fired the Pressure Cannon directly at Hikari's face. She dodged backward just in time to keep from having her own head torn off, but Imakarum saw her visor shatter into sparkling shards.

_-Hikari?-_

_-I'm all right,-_ his female counterpart said, letting her long black bangs fall over her eyes. -It just stung me a little.-

_-You're bleeding, though.-_

_-Yes, I know that.-_

"I suppose one of you was bound to hit me sooner or later, what with how hard you were trying," Hikari said, as two drops of blood fell from opposite sides of her chin. "However, you might not like what you see."

Hikari brushed her bangs away from her eyes, and Imakarum removed his visor and tossed it away. If they were going to end this game, then Imakarum would see to it that that the game was ended permanently.

"Their eyes! Look at their eyes!"

"Zoalord transform!" Imakarum and Hikari shouted as one.

As he felt his own body changing into his larger battleform, Imakarum could sense Hikari undergoing the same changes. For a moment he wondered if the physical similarities between them would extend even to their battleforms. Then, Imakarum realized that he would find out shortly if that was the case.

The light cleared, and Imakarum saw Hikari's form. It was indeed a close resemblance to his own, as Hikari's human form was. The only differences were the marginally more slender build and the slightest roundness in the female Zoalord's chest. Even the number and location of Gravity Points was the same.

"For our master, Lord Alkanphel; all of Chronos' enemies shall be annihilated!" Hikari shouted.

"Prepare yourselves!"

OoO

Sho felt like his heart was being squeezed; like he couldn't breathe.

"Why?" Sho asked, shaking as he looked at the two Zoalords in front of him. "Why are we being forced to fight you?"

"You- you were our friend," Yukari said. "You were the one who taught us what it meant to fight Chronos; what the consequences would be if we didn't."

"Are you done?" Ms. Murakami asked, sounding indifferent.

"I would say they are," Mr. Murakami hissed.

A barrage of power bolts, from both Zoalords, destroyed the roof where they were standing and hurled all four Guyvers and Aptom onto the building next to the one that had been destroyed.

OoO


	2. Divergent Parallel Lines

**Divergent Parallel Lines**

Fried'rich, as he watched the battle between Imakarum Mirabilis, Hikari Mirabilis, Aptom, and four Guyvers, was grateful for the female Zoalord's appearance. If Guyvers I and III had joined forces with their female counterparts, and all of the evidence from the ongoing battle seemed to indicate that they had, then Hikari's strength would be of great use to Chronos. As would her knowledge of Yukari Fukamachi's weaknesses.

_These Guyvers intended to kill me. I will not allow such audacity to go unpunished. Imakarum, Hikari, do what you are meant to do; destroy the Guyvers._

"Your Excellency, a news helicopter is approaching the site of Imakarum and Hikari's battle against the Guyvers," one of Fried'rich's Zoanoid aides, a Neagle, informed him.

"What?!" demanded a Ramochis. "Call them back at once!"

"No, let them be," Fried'rich ordered calmly. "Concealing something like this would only work to our disadvantage in the future. Let them find out; I will see to it that this is turned to our advantage."

XxXxXxX

_+Sho, what do we do? I... I'm not sure I can fight her.+_

_+I'm not sure if I can fight Mr. Murakami, either,+ _Sho admitted, clasping Yukari's hand. _+I think I might know a way that we could help each other. Maybe if I fought Ms. Murakami...+_

_+I think that could work,+_ Yukari said, squeezing Sho's hand. _+I don't really know Mr. Murakami, aside from what you've told me about him. And I know you don't know anything but what I've told you about Ms. Murakami... Still, are you sure we have to fight?+_

_+I don't know... maybe there is still hope...+_

"Murakami!" Sho called, hoping that the two Zoalords would hear him, and that they would stop.

"You should be more specific about who it is that you're addressing, Sho," Ms. Murakami chided from her position in the air to Sho's, Aptom's and Yukari's right.

"You of all people should know that we once shared that name," Mr. Murakami said.

"I'm... I'm talking to both of you," Sho said, looking from one Zoalord to the other. "Why are we all fighting each other? You were both enemies of Chronos, just as much as we were."

"You keep talking, Sho Fukamachi, and yet all I hear is meaningless noise," Ms. Murakami snapped.

"Lord Alkanphel returned us to life after we were killed in our foolish attempt to best that traitor Guyot in single combat. We both owe our lives and hence our allegiance to Lord Alkanphel!"

"Please," Yukari pleaded. "You were my friend - more than my friend - I don't want to have to fight you!"

"You do know that you would be welcomed within the ranks of Chronos, Yukari Fukamachi," Mr. Murakami said, somehow managing to sound reasonable. "There would then be no reason for you to fight against someone you seem to care for so much."

Yukari hung her head. "I can't do that. Chronos is too evil; they've hurt too many people. I could never serve them willingly. Please, try to understand that."

"Then this conversation is over, Yukari," Ms. Murakami hissed.

The next thing that the four Guyvers knew, Hikari and Imakarum had both fired their Crystal Lasers. The impact of the blasts tore apart the roof where the Guyvers and Aptom had been standing.

XxXxXxX

Watching the battle unfold, Fried'rich wondered for a moment just what the discussion that had taken place between Hikari, Imakarum, and the two analogs of Guyver I had been about. Judging from her body language, the female Guyver I had been severely affected by what either Lord Imakarum or Lady Hikari had said.

Whatever that had been.

"The targets are moving from Chiyoda to Chuo to escape from Lord and Lady Mirabilis," the radio-distorted voice of one of his Zoanoid observers reported. "They will arrive at Tokyo bay soon. It's been confirmed that the targets are Guyver I and Guyver III, both, er... sets of them. However, the identity of that new warrior and his relation to the Guyvers is still unknown."

"We will need to know what this new one's connection is to the Guyvers," Fried'rich stated calmly. "Put some of our most diligent research staff onto the task. I want to know everything that is possible to know about this new creature."

Fried'rich decided that he would also speak to Imakarum and Hikari, but after their battle against Guyvers I and III had been concluded. It would not do to distract either of them at the moment, when they were both absorbed in the battle at hand.

XxXxXxX

"Tetsuro, everybody, come quick!" Mizuki shouted, drawing the attention of all of the occupants of the apartment. "Sho and Makishima are on TV!"

"Well, I see they've all met up," Tetsuro said, catching a glimpse of the four Guyvers on the TV screen.

"What do you mean?" Mizuki asked, confused.

"Oh, I see!" Natsuki exclaimed, pointing to the battle on the screen. "There are four Guyvers out there. So, it follows that two of them would have to be Akane and Yukari."

"And the other two are Agito and Sho!" Mizuki exclaimed in sudden realization. "I get it now."

"I just think it's weird that there are suddenly four Guyvers, and two of them are girls," Natsuki said, only half-listening to the commentary from the newscaster.

"I have a theory about how they might have gotten here, but I'd prefer to explain it to everyone. I'm not quite sure myself if it's true, but I'd like to get as many other opinions as I can," Tetsuro said.

"That sounds like a good idea, Tetsuro," Natsuki said, turning back to watch the battle unfolding on the TV screen.

"So, which one of them do you think is Purg'stall?" Mizuki asked, when the lull in conversation grew too long for her liking.

"I'm still not all that sure how to tell Zoanoids apart," Natsuki said. "Besides, those two look so much alike already. Either one of them could be Purg'stall, and we'd never know which one."

"What I'm more concerned about is why neither of them have called the Gigantic yet."

"I don't think Agito can call the Gigantic, big brother," Mizuki said, turning back to look at Tetsuro.

"No, but Yukari could," he said. "I don't know why they would stay in normal Guyver mode to fight Zoanoids that are obviously so much more powerful than them."

"They're definitely at a disadvantage," Natsuki said, worry for the four Guyvers plain in her voice. "Just look at what's happening!"

Even as Natsuki spoke, Sho took an energy blast from one of the white Zoanoids directly in the gut. Then they saw Yukari slammed bodily into Sho from the front, the victim of a piledriver blow from the other white Zoanoid.

_Why? Sho? Yukari? Why do both of you seem to be so reluctant to transform into Gigantic mode, even when it's obvious that you're going to lose if you don't? Why can't you fight? What's going on?_ Tetsuro wondered silently. He decided to ask them when they got back.

Something that would make them hesitate this badly couldn't be good. But what could do this kind of thing to such determined people as Sho and Yukari?

XxXxXxX

As she slammed face-first into Sho, Yukari could hear Ms. Murakami's mocking laughter. She could also hear Akane and Agito firing their Pressure Cannons at the two Zoalords. Pulling herself away from Sho, Yukari looked over her shoulder at Mr. Murakami. He was safely behind his forcefield, the force of both Akane's and Agito's Pressure Cannons not even scratching him.

They probably did make him angry, though, because the next thing he did was fire some kind of horizontal tornado-blast at them. The identical blast that came from behind was probably fired by Ms. Murakami. Akane and Agito were tossed around like leaves in a windstorm; Yukari grabbed Akane's arms to keep her fellow Guyver from being blown around too much.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yukari saw Sho catching Agito as he slammed into him. It was almost the same way that she herself had slammed into Sho, only Agito hit Sho back first. Yukari watched as Sho caught Agito under the arms, then she screamed as the tornado-blast tore across her back.

Through the haze of pain, and the all-too-familiar sharp tingle of the Guyver's regeneration, Yukari could hear Akane and Agito yelling.

"Oh, shit!" Akane screamed.

"We have to escape! Right now!"

Frozen as they were by surprise, it was only Aptom's intervention that saved them. The Lost Unit had grown two long pairs of tentacles; all the better to wrap up the four Guyvers and carry them away before the Incision Waves fired by the two Zoalords could strike them.

"Aptom, you saved us," Yukari said.

"Only because you were both too stupid to save yourselves," Aptom scoffed. "Are the both of you _trying _to get killed? Cause you have to know that that's what's going to happen if you don't use the Gigantic and fight."

"You're still here, are you Aptom?" Ms. Murakami asked, sounding amused. "I guess you must really want to die, then."

"We might have been willing to let you live once, but now..." Mr. Murakami trailed off, but his threat was obvious.

"Look," Aptom said, starting to get pissed off enough to ignore what the Zoalords were taunting him about. "Do you both want to die without even fighting back?! It's not like you have any choice right now!"

"You don't understand," Yukari said, almost pleading. "The Gigantic's power is overwhelming; if either of us used the Gigantic, then we wouldn't be able to help killing them."

"It... it would be too much like when we fought Dad," Sho said, his voice quavering. "We really _could_ end up killing them."

Yukari didn't say anything, but she silently agreed with Sho. Aptom didn't say anything either, but he thought that the both of them were complete idiots. Two powerful blasts of compressed air slammed into the group of warriors, sending them tumbling through the air. Aptom grunted in pain as his wings were ripped into tatters; Yukari screamed as her left foot was blown off, and Sho screamed as the blast took out a large chunk out of his shoulder.

As the five of them fell, they failed to notice that the Zoalords who had been attacking them were flying straight into their group. Yukari suddenly found Ms. Murakami's arms wrapped around her body from behind, trapping her own arms against her sides.

"Yu-ka-ri," Ms. Murakami singsonged in Yukari's ear. "I'd say I'm sorry to do this to you, my little Yukari-chan, just to make you feel better. But then, we both know that that's not true."

Yukari struggled helplessly as she felt Ms. Murakami's right hand sliding up and over her chest, even as Ms. Murakami's left wrapped fully around her waist and her left hand closed tightly around Yukari's right wrist.

"You will be doing a great service for Chronos, though. You can be certain of that, my little Yukari-chan. Lord Alkanphel wants your Control Medal, and he will have it; just relax, there's no need for you to fight me, my little Yukari-chan."

_Am I going to die?_ Yukari wondered silently, as she felt Ms. Murakami's claws close around her Control Medal. _She's really going to kill me; Sayuri-mama's really going to kill me. Why? Why is this happening?_


	3. Differing Similar Lives

**Differing Similar Lives**

_**That's not me...**_

_What?_

_**That's not me, Yukari.**_

_Sayuri-mama?_

_**Yes, it's me. It's Sayuri Murakami, the journalist. You have to wake up, Yukari; think about what would happen if Chronos managed to get their hands on the Control Medal! You know that I was a guinea pig for Guyot's form; my life was already over from the moment they took me. That's why it doesn't matter if you kill me now.**_

_No! I can't._

_**Think, Yukari! If you let Chronos defeat you, and if they get their hands on the Control Medal, then what was my life worth? I was used by Chronos, like so many other people; I know what would happen if they ever got their hands on the Guyver's Control Medal. You know what they would do with that kind of power; you have to protect the people of this world, at any cost.**_

_But, I..._

_**You have to fight, Yukari. It's the only way to give my sacrifice any meaning.**_

_Sayuri-mama..._

As Yukari was jolted out of her reminiscence by a sharp pain in her head, she woke to find Ms. Murakami- no, Hikari Mirabilis' claws just starting to tear out her Control Medal. Turning her arms inward, pressing her retracted Vibration Blades against the Zoalord's flanks, Yukari closed her eyes. _I'm sorry..._ Then she extended both blades.

XxXxXxXxX

Hikari screamed, as both of Yukari's arm-mounted Vibration Blades suddenly drove themselves deep into her sides and neatly impaled the female Zoalord. When the blades were ripped out of her, taking a fair amount of her blood and entrails with them, Hikari had only a moment to recover from the pain, before she heard Yukari calling the Gigantic Guyver.

She dodged backwards, wounds healing even as she watched the two Gigantic cocoons plunge into the sea. Imakarum slipped his left arm around her waist, and Hikari leaned into his support as she healed.

"Are they so stupid as to think that they can hide from us merely by diving underwater?" Hikari scoffed.

"Apparently they are still deluded enough to believe that we will not carry out the orders that Lord Alkanphel has given us."

"Either that, or they still believe that we will betray our glorious cause."

"They are fools, then," Imakarum sneered. "My Lady, do you think you would be able to fly on your own now?"

"Yes, my body seems to have recovered from the damage. Thank you, my Lord."

When Imakarum released her, Hikari only fell a few centimeters before she steadied herself. She and Imakarum both fired their Spiral Crushers at the surface of the ocean beneath them, sending up two huge jets of water.

"They will not be able to resist a shockwave this powerful," Imakarum said with certainty.

"No, my Lord, I do not think they will."

On the ocean floor, revealed for a moment by the absence of water in that area, was a scene that neither Zoalord had been expecting to see at all: The two Gigantic Guyvers, protected by some kind of a barrier and standing over the fallen forms of Guyver III, Aptom and Guyver III's plural. The Gigantics each had one chestplate open, and both Zoalords could clearly see the glow of the Hyper-Smasher as it charged up.

"What on- Do you think they honestly intend to fire, my Lord?"

"I'm not certain, my Lady. Neither of them seemed particularly willing to do us such harm before."

"Perhaps-"

The rest of Hikari's intended statement was cut off as the twin hyper-particle beams burned the air scant centimeters in front of the two Zoalords. Imakarum screamed; Hikari gasped, and both of the Zoalords closed their inner eyelids before the terrible light could blind them. The unleashed energies of what amounted to a single full Hyper-Smasher blast caused a large storm in the area of Tokyo bay. Kicking up large waves and starting a ferocious downpour.

Both Zoalords were soon soaked to the skin.

Their eyes closed, since they had not managed to fully avoid the effects of the Hyper-Smasher's blinding light, they were nevertheless still able to hear and feel and smell the hard, pounding rain all around them.

"They created this tempest merely to cover their own escape," Hikari sneered. "It would be impressive, it if weren't so utterly pathetic."

"They did make one fatal mistake, though," Imakarum chuckled darkly, winding his arms around Hikari's waist.

"Yes: they deliberately missed," Hikari said maliciously, smiling as she caressed his hand.

The Zoalords quickly transformed back into their human forms, feeling the rain and wind all the more clearly against their skin while still being unaffected by the cold.

"We will make them regret that," Imakarum promised, resting his left cheek against Hikari's hair. "It will not be long before we face them again."

The howling wind whipped their long curtains of black hair into the air, mingling the now-soaking strands. Imakarum and Hikari stayed for a few moments, listening to the rain as it fell, before they both teleported back to Chronos Japan's Cloud Gate.

XxXxXxXxX

Still numb with shock as he was, Sho didn't really notice the way that Yukari clung to his arm, using his body to support herself as they both came stumbling in to the apartment where the rest of their friends were staying. He didn't notice her head resting on his shoulder; didn't notice the way that Yukari was using him to support a fair amount of her weight.

To be fair, though, Yukari herself wasn't in any better shape than Sho was. Her dark eyes were hollow as she stared at the floor in front of her feet. Akane and Agito, though they were depressed by the loss of powerful allies like the two Murakamis, were both far more trained in concealing their emotions than Sho and Yukari would probably ever be.

"Sho! Yukari! Everyone, Sho and Yukari are... What's wrong?" Tetsuro asked, as he finally noticed the near-identical expressions of pained dejection on Yukari and Sho's faces.

Yukari moaned slightly, hugging Sho's arm tighter, even as Sho himself slouched and tried to unobtrusively make his way past Tetsuro and get to his room. He was distantly grateful to Yukari for being there for him, but he was really trying not to feel anything at all. If he let himself feel anything, Sho was sure he would break apart.

_Mr. Murakami... Mr. Murakami is-_ Sho bit his tongue, determinedly not thinking about what Mr. Murakami was. Thinking instead about what had nearly happened to Yukari; Sho was glad that she had managed to avoid having her Control Medal ripped out, since he wouldn't have been able to do anything for her, because he was...

Sho, finding himself starting to think about Mr. Murakami again, quickly stopped. Leaning his cheek against the top of Yukari's head, Sho reached over and gently stroked her left shoulder. Tetsuro was just concerned about them, Sho knew, but at the moment he just wished his old friend would leave him alone.

"Agito? Akane? Do either of you know what's wrong with Sho and Yukari?"

One of them probably answered, because the expression on Tetsuro's face changed from one of honest excitement to concern, and then to shock and sorrow.

"What?! You mean Murakami- _both_ of them?! How could this have happened?!"

Sho just shook his head, still trying not to think or feel. He couldn't yet bring himself to walk away, though. Yukari didn't seem to be any better off, with the way she had started sniffling.

"Brother... brother they're showing the Guyvers on TV," Mizuki said, shaken and trying to find anything that would take her mind off of what she had just heard.

On the small screen, images of Akane, Agito, Sho and Yukari were being displayed for all the world to see. The newscaster was also giving an account of what had happened; one with Chronos' own professional spin on it, of course.

"These four people are the ones responsible for the recent terrorist actions against Chronos bases in this area; we have been informed by sources within Chronos that the second pair of terrorists, previously unseen, had been running an underground war before they joined up with their fellow terrorists in this battle." The burning Cloud Gate building was shown, and the newscaster went on. "At 21:30 last night, these four attacked and severely damaged Chronos Japan's Cloud Gate facility. Even a task force made up of their best Zoanoids proved to be no match for the four."

Here, the image on the screen changed to one that Tetsuro and the others recognized. These were the white Zoanoids that had been fighting the Guyvers. "Fortunately, the four terrorists were quickly overpowered by His Excellency Imakarum Mirabilis as well as his sister, Her Excellency Hikari Mirabilis. Both siblings were recently dispatched from Chronos headquarters; however, they were unable to stop the four from escaping. Her Excellency Hikari Mirabilis was injured during the battle, but she was able to recover." The TV showed a recording of Yukari, elbows turned inward, extending her blades directly into Hikari's midsection.

"One of the members of Chronos' ruling Council of Twelve, His Excellency Purg'stall, volunteered to make a statement for us."

The image on the screen changed to that of a middle-aged looking man with pale silver hair and pointed ears. "As I am very sure you all have realized by now, these Guyvers are not ordinary terrorists. Nor are they Zoanoids, despite what some of you may have been led to believe. These Guyvers are highly dangerous and very resourceful creatures; they conspire to prevent the scientific progress of this world and its people. In fact, the Guyvers are not of this world at all; what we are dealing with now is the advance force of a hostile extraterrestrial species. Their intent is to weaken us and make this world easier for them to conquer when their man force arrives. They have even gone so far as to enlist the aid of humans."

Pictures of Akane, looking alternately fierce and sly, appeared on the screen even as Purg'stall continued its narration. "This woman is Akane Makishima, a collaborator with the extraterrestrials." Next, a picture of Yukari was shown. This one, in direct contrast to the pictures of Akane that had been shown, of Yukari was one that had been taken at school. In it, Yukari was smiling and waving to someone off camera. "This unfortunate young woman is Yukari Fukamachi; we have been able to ascertain that she was kidnapped and brainwashed by these hostile forces."

"He's a fine one to talk about brainwashing, with what Chronos did to Murakami," Akane scoffed.

A grainy video clip showing Yukari and Tetsuro, in a very familiar abandoned warehouse, appeared on the screen. "This footage, recovered from the site of the girl's first disappearance, will give you at least some idea of her currant situation."

The video showed Yukari and Tetsuro, surrounded by some kind of vague, shadowy shapes that Sho, Yukari and Tetsuro could clearly remember being a group of Ramochis. The footage had obviously been altered, but only someone who had been there would know it. Chronos had been very thoughrough. Sho, remembering how bad a time he'd had with the Ramochis who'd tried to interrogate him, was curious about just what Yukari had gone through.

Yukari was dressed in a school uniform, a girl's one of course, and she was looking around in fearful confusion. One of the shadowy forms sprang forward, grabbing the collar of Yukari's shirt and tearing it off entirely. Yukari dodged behind Tetsuro, frantically trying to hold her ruined shirt together. The hulking shapes, which those who had been there recognized as Ramochis advanced with a distinctly menacing attitude- and the video cut off suddenly.

"This was all we were able to recover-"

"What?!" Yukari shrieked, cutting off the rest of whatever Purg'stall was going to say. "Those lying bastards! Tetsuro and I were attacked by Zoanoids in that warehouse!"

"Yukari, calm down," Tetsuro said, slidling up next to her to put his hand on her shoulder. "I had a feeling that Chronos would try something like this, but I have to admit that I wasn't expecting them to make up something like that."

"How can you be so calm about this, brother?" Mizuki asked. "Weren't we going to tell the world about what Chronos is trying to do? How can we even go to anyone now, with how badly Chronos has made us out to be."

As Purg'stall started speaking again, Tetsuro hushed his sister. He was curious to know just what the Zoalord was going to say.

"Therefore, if by chance any of you happen to encounter Ms Yukari Fukamachi, we of Chronos kindly ask that you report this to the nearest Chronos operative. Do not attempt to speak with the girl; the reconditioning that the extraterrestrials performed on her mind was quite extensive, and she is likely to resist any attempts to aid her."

Akane scoffed, but Yukari - whose mind was now back on what had been done to Ms. Murakami - didn't even notice.

_**"Yu-ka-ri!"**_

_**"Don't worry, my little Yukari-chan; you'll be doing a great service for Chronos."**_

_**"Lord Alkanphel wants your Control Medal; I'll bring it to him."**_

_**"All of Chronos' enemies will be annihilated!"**_

Sho wrapped his arms around Yukari, holding her close even as he remembered what Mr. Murakami had said to him. She was really the only person who could understand what he was going through; she'd had to fight Ms. Murakami at the very same time that he'd been fighting Mr. Murakami.

_Why? Why did we have to end up fighting our friends?_ Sho wondered sadly. _It was bad enough when we were forced to kill father, and now... I don't know what to do; father, help me; help **us**. What is the right thing to do?_

Mizuki, remembering that Tetsuro had been about to tell them all how he thought Yukari, Akane and Ms. Murakami had ended up here; when Sho, Agito and Mr. Murakami were all already here. Looking over at her brother, unasked questions plain in her expression, Mizuki saw her brother shake his head firmly. Turning to watch as Sho, his arm draped around Yukari's shoulders, walked away; Mizuki understood what her brother was trying to convey.

It probably wasn't a good time to bring up things like that.

XxXxXxXxX

Far away, though still close enough that he would have been able to help if there was any real trouble with his erstwhile allies, Aptom was brooding. At least, he was brooding when he could forget what had actually happened. When he remembered that; remembered the sheer weirdness of confronting both Guyver Is, then he laughed his ass off.

_This has got to be the weirdest thing that has ever happened in the history of everything,_ Aptom chuckled. _I come out to save Sho's - or maybe if was Yukari's, oh who the hell cares - ass from a Zoalord, and then I end up having to baby-sit two Guyvers. One little bastard who killed my only friends, and one little bitch who did just the same thing._ Aptom chuckled again. _I can't decide if this is good luck or bad luck; hell, it's probably my luck. But then, that's not really the issue here._

Aptom leaned back against the support structure of the transmitter tower he was sitting on, tucking his arms behind his head as he considered his next move. The real issue, the one he'd been trying to avoid by thinking about the recent strangeness, was what he was going to do next. _It's strange, how they think of me as one of their own now; all I did was give their little buddies some help. I guess that was all it took, though; it's kind of nice to have friends again._

Aptom looked back into the center of the city again; back toward the massive form of Cloud Gate that towered over the surrounding area. _Then again, we all do have a common enemy. And it isn't like I couldn't use the help._ Aptom glared at the huge Chronos building. _Bastards. They're the ones responsible for all of this. Without Chronos, there never would have been any Guyvers; any Lost Units. I'd have been leading a normal life, maybe with my family. If I have any, that is._

Throwing one last glare at the still-standing Chronos building, it was really too bad that even four Guyvers hadn't been able to demolish that eyesore, Aptom turned his thoughts inward again. _I guess I can't change what I am, though. This drive to fight, to make myself stronger; it's a part of me. I have to be the strongest; the most powerful. It's the only way that I can satisfy my hunger. I'll be strong enough to beat Chronos and the Guyver... someday. For the memory of my comrades, and for myself._

Aptom smirked, looking back at Cloud Gate. _Now, there's only the matter of which Guyver's head I'm going to bash in when I evolve to that point. Sho's the one I have a real beef with, or is that Yukari? Damn, this is getting surreal._ Huffing, Aptom turned to stare at the empty sky again. _Okay, let's start again: Yukari was the one who- no that was Sho-AAARRRRRGGGHHH!! One more time!_ Aptom, on the verge of screaming, settled back down to think. _First time I met up with Sho was in that forest, after Chronos and their goons had hauled Akane in to- FUCK!_

Aptom, beating his head against the support strut, finally calmed down to the point where he was able to think rationally again. _Screw this; I'm going to go munch on some Zoanoids. I'll figure something out; I always do._

XxXxXxXxX

It was just starting to get really dark in the house where they were all staying, and Mizuki was dozing. Sho and Yukari had been silent and withdrawn all day, though Mizuki didn't really blame them for being like that. She hadn't really been all that sociable herself today, either. Still, she hoped Yukari would be okay; Mizuki was always sad when Yukari got hurt.

_Wait, what am I thinking about? I didn't even know about Yukari until today,_ Mizuki pondered. But the memories she had of Yukari were just as clear as those she had of Sho; they all seemed just as real. And she was just as worried about Sho as she was about Yukari.

Getting up, Mizuki left her room and went out into the living room. Catching sight of Yukari, Mizuki followed the other girl. It turned out that she was just getting a glass of water; she still looked shell-shocked over the whole ordeal with the two Murakamis, and so Mizuki decided to try and comfort her.

"Yu-Yukari?"

"Mizuki? I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"No, I was having trouble getting to sleep anyway," Mizuki said honestly.

"Sho and I are having the same problem," Yukari said, hanging her head. "He'll start remembering, or I'll start remembering, and then we end up waking ourselves up. I just don't know what we're going to be able to do."

The raw agony in Yukari's tone just about broke Mizuki's heart, and before she knew what she was doing Mizuki had wrapped her arms around Yukari's chest and enfolded the older girl in a warm embrace. Pressing her lips against Yukari's, Mizuki lost herself in the feel of the other girl's skin. Yukari was hurt, and she was sad, and she was lonely; but Yukari was also beautiful, and kind, and strong.

Mizuki just wanted to remind Yukari that she was still all of these things; even though she was having a bad time. Even though bad things had happened to her, that didn't change who Yukari was; Mizuki just wanted to remind her of that, and that was why she was... she was... She was kissing Yukari!

Mizuki's eyes snapped open, looking into the confused face of Yukari Fukamachi.

"I'm- I'm so sorry, Yukari!" Mizuki said, bowing hurriedly as she let go and jumped backwards. "Sorry!"

Mizuki dashed out of the room, her cheeks feeling like they were on fire. She didn't look back, not wanting to see the expression of disgust that she was sure Yukari had on her face. Mizuki didn't know just what she'd been thinking, kissing Yukari that way, but she knew that it hadn't been good that she did that.

Sho liked her, and she was starting to feel like that about him, too. Now that she'd had a chance to get over her crush on Agito. And if he ever saw her kissing Yukari... well, Mizuki didn't want to think about what would happen then. Closing her door and leaning against it, Mizuki tried not to think about the feel of Yukari's soft lips on her own. This was silly!

She didn't really feel anything for Yukari besides friendship, right? But, when Mizuki tried to remember her - well, the other her - relationship with Yukari, she found that it was a lot like the one she'd had with Agito when they'd been in school together. Only that had been a lot stronger than the crush she had once had on Agito. And, it had only become more pronounced the longer she and Yukari had been together.

Seeing Yukari fight against Chronos; seeing the way she was willing to do so much to save people that she didn't even know had only made Mizuki more fond of her.

But, then there was still the matter of her feelings for Sho. And his feelings for her, too. She couldn't just throw away what she and Sho were starting to build together, even though she wasn't really quite sure what that was. Mizuki sighed; she'd have to think more about this tomorrow.

Lying back down on her futon, Mizuki fell asleep.

XxXxXxXxX

When she woke up, Shizu had a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, she usually got up to make breakfast for Master Agito at this hour; then again, there was the fact that Mistress Akane was also here and she would be wanting food as well. Shizu quickly made up her mind that she would make breakfast for both of them. She could sort out her feelings later.

Leaving her room, Shizu headed unerringly for the mansion's large kitchen. It was very kind of Professor Odagiri to have left this place to them; Shizu was always mindful to recite a prayer of gratitude to the Professor for all that he had done just before she went to sleep each night. It was only fitting, after all.

Once she had made it to the kitchen, Shizu set about making a double-batch of breakfast. She thought that it was a little strange that Mistress Akane would have the same favorite foods as Master Agito, but then they were both essentially the same person. The differences were only details, really.

XxXxXxXxX

When Sho woke up, Yukari's head still nestled against his shoulder, he tried not to think about the nightmares he'd been having. He didn't want to remember; not ever again. Watching Yukari sleep helped him calm down a bit; but only a bit, since it seemed like she'd been having nightmares herself. Sho knew that Yukari wouldn't want to talk about what she had gone through during the night.

Sho himself didn't, and he had come to appreciate just how similar Yukari was to him over the time that he had spent with her. As Yukari started to wake up, Sho turned away and left the futon. He figured that he might as well get cleaned up first, so that he would be done by the time she got out of their room.

He and Yukari were the only ones who had doubled-up on sleeping arrangements. Akane and Agito had each found their own rooms to stay in, and Sho hadn't heard anything about them for the rest of the night. They were probably all right; Sho knew enough about Agito - and by extension Akane - to know that the other Guyvers would have dealt with whatever feelings they'd had about dealing with... what had happened on their own.

When Sho was just about finished washing up, he heard someone knocking on the door.

"I'll be out in just a minute, Yukari!"

"Thanks, Sho!"

Finishing up, Sho left the bathroom and let Yukari in to use it herself. He knew that Mizuki and Shizu were probably in the kitchen getting breakfast ready, at least judging by the wonderful smells that were coming from that area of the house. Sho was grateful to both of them for taking the time to do these kinds of things.

Cooking was one of the just one of the many things that Sho was grateful to have Mizuki for. The foremost thing being the way he felt about her, of course. Once Yukari had finished up in the bathroom, Sho took her hand and led her to the kitchen. Yukari probably knew her way around the house; Sho wasn't really sure, since the two of them hadn't reached that point in their conversation before they'd gotten tired enough to be able to fall asleep without dreaming.

Well, mostly without dreaming.

He and Yukari, after they were awakened by the first bout of nightmares, had stayed up talking about all of the things that were different between their lives. Sho already knew most of the similarities from the conversation they'd had when they had first met on the roof of the building overlooking Cloud Gate.

Apparently, Yukari had been the Vice President of the Student Council, and Mizuki had been Secretary. Akane had still been President, somehow, and Sho still wasn't completely clear about how that had been worked out. Still, there were enough similarities between their lives that Sho felt like he knew her already. It was also nice to have someone to talk about things that he couldn't really discuss with Mizuki or Tetsuro.

Things that only another Guyver would be able to truly understand.

The two of them had soon arrived in the kitchen, where Shizu and Mizuki were setting out the freshly cooked meal.

"Good morning, you two," Tetsuro greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

"We managed to eventually, thanks for your concern, Tetsuro," Yukari said.

"We spent a lot of time talking," Sho said, stifling a yawn. "But we did manage to get at least some sleep last night."

"That's good," Tetsuro said, grinning. "After all, I wouldn't want either of you to fall asleep while I'm talking."

"What are you going to be talking about, Tetsuro?" Sho asked.

"I think I have at least some idea of how Yukari and Akane got here; well, a theory at least," Tetsuro said.

"What would that theory be, Tetsuro?" Akane asked, looking his way.

"I'll tell you all after we've finished eating," Tetsuro said, smiling. "No sense letting all this great food go to waste."

Akane sighed inaudibly; alternate reality or not, Tetsuro would always be the same. The rest of the meal was finished in relative silence, and then Sho and Yukari helped to clear off the table and wash the dishes. The four of them soon finished with that chore and joined the rest of their friends in the living room.

"So, Tetsuro, what was this theory you had?" Yukari asked.

"You know how I've sometimes talked about parallel universes?" Tetsuro asked, wanting to be sure that his friends had at least some grounding in what he was going to be talking about before he started getting in too deep.

"I remember you used to write about them when Natsuki asked you to write an article for the Sci-Fi Club's newsletter," Yukari said.

"That's good, at least," Tetsuro commented. "How about the rest of you?"

"Yes, we've heard about them," Agito said, seeming slightly impatient. "Now, tell us your theory."

"All right; here's what I think happened: somehow - don't ask me how; that's the one part I'm not sure of - our two parallel universes were able to get to a point where they merged. I think that's why some of us have two sets of memories: the other set is from our counterparts in the other reality. I think this is also why Yukari, Akane, and- that other woman showed up, too: it would have been impossible to merge them without causing... unpleasant consequences."

"Yes," Akane concurred. "I have no desire at all to experience life as a hermaphrodite."

Sho and Yukari shivered, and even Agito looked disgusted by the idea of such a thing.

"And that's how you think things happened?" Yukari asked, Tetsuro nodded. "Would there be any way to reverse it, do you think?"

"I don't know," Tetsuro shrugged. "I'm not sure if something like this even can be reversed; much less how any of us would go about doing it."

"I see," Akane said calmly.

XxXxXxXxX

It was just before lunch when Shizu managed to find both Master Agito and Mistress Akane, fortunately together and speaking about something. The thought that either of them could have ended up like... that, wasn't something that Shizu liked to think about. Though the currant situation did present it's own problems.

"Shizu," Mistress Akane greeted cordially.

"Is there something you wanted to discuss?" Master Agito asked, seeing the expression on her face.

"I'd just like to ask for a little more time."

"Time for what, Shizu?" Mistress Akane asked.

"Time, before I have to decide which of you I'll go with."

"Ah, so that's it," Master Agito said, nodding to indicate his understanding. "We do intend to stay at this place when circumstances permit, so that should give you ample time to decide things for yourself."

"Thank you," Shizu said. "Mistress Akane?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, Mistress, but I- I care for..."

"Yes, I thought that might be the case," Mistress Akane said, picking up where Shizu had trailed off. "I must admit, I do make a rather handsome man."

Shizu laughed, but only a little. Even Master Agito seemed to be amused; Shizu was happy to see the two of them getting along so well. Maybe she would not be forced to choose, after all.


	4. Duality Of Purpose

**Duality Of Purpose**

As she worked to organize the progress reports from the Ark Project, Hikari Mirabilis looked up to find one of the Zoanoids that staffed the Dead Sea Plant standing in front of her desk.

"Yes?"

"Three creams, two sugars; just the way you like it," the Bresnel said, setting down a cup of coffee within easy reach of Hikari's left hand.

"Thank you," Hikari said, as the Zoanoid smiled and left.

Another Zoanoid, a Razell this time, came up to her desk.

"I brought you your usual: one jelly doughnut with strawberry filling, and two cheese Danishes."

Smiling, the Razell turned and left, and Hikari turned back to the reports. There was time enough to snack after they had been seen to. The growth of the Ark was proceeding on schedule, but with Lord Hamilcal overseeing it Hikari had truthfully not expected anything less. The sound of her office door opening for a third time caused Hikari to jerk her head up from the reports, annoyance lighting her features.

The person inside her office now, though, was no mere Zoanoid.

"Imakarum? What brings you here?"

"You'll have to forgive my bluntness, my Lady, but I think our subordinates are flirting with you," Imakarum said, obviously amused by the thought.

"What makes you say that, my Lord?"

"They've never brought me coffee and morning snacks of questionable nutritional value," Imakarum said, chuckling softly. "At least, not without me having to ask for them first."

Hikari chuckled. "Perhaps you're right about that, my Lord. Now, did you come here for any specific reason, or did you just intend to tease me about that?"

"Actually, my Lady, I came to discuss our strategy."

"Which strategy would that be, my Lord?"

"Our strategy for dealing with the Guyvers, and Yukari Fukamachi in particular. I think she is more willing to see things from our point of view, given some help, of course."

"Yes, she does still seem rather attached to me," Hikari said, considering just what steps would need to be taken to procure the loyalty of the female Guyver I. "I think we would need to move quickly, though, my Lord. Otherwise, she may be liable to forget her present feelings. Akane Makishima can be rather persuasive."

"I doubt that she will be willing to give up on such sentimental attachments so quickly, my Lady. As well, don't forget that Sho Fukamachi is with her as well. His sentimental attachment to me is still rather strong, as we have both seen demonstrated."

"Yes," Hikari said, propping her chin up on her right hand. "Still, the fact remains that the two of them are rather well-protected at the moment. How do you propose we go about gaining her loyalty; or capturing her, if it comes to that?"

"That was what I was hoping to get your input on, my Lady. If you're not still preoccupied with those reports, that is."

"I think I would be able to spare at least some of my time; this could prove to be useful to our cause, provided we are able to carry this plan out."

So saying, Hikari set the reports aside, dragged over another chair using her telekinesis, and turned to face Imakarum more squarely.

"Now, what did you have in mind, my Lord?"

XxXxXxXxXxX

While the other Zoanoids, and the two other Zoalords, stationed at the Dead Sea Plant all concerned themselves with the growth of the Ark - as well they should - Dr. Balkus was searching for an answer to the problem at hand: the one that the duplicates of Imakarum and the two Guyvers posed. The first thing that the Second Zoalord was trying to determine was just which set of Guyvers and Zoalord was the true set. The one that belonged to this universe.

Of course, since the two universes seemed to have fused rather completely, something that the two complete sets of memories that Balkus himself and all of the unduplicated Zoalords possessed would attest to; Balkus' first task was to find out just which universe they had been in when all of this oddness had started. Something that would not prove easy, even for someone of his formidable intellect. Balkus was willing to admit this to himself, if no one else.

He knew a great many things about the Advent technology that Chronos had appropriated for their cause, but extra-dimensional physics was somewhat beyond even his vast experience. Lord Alkanphel seemed unconcerned with these new developments, at least when he wasn't pleased with them. However, Balkus himself was not quite so willing to accept two extra Guyvers as the price of gaining a single Zoalord.

Even if this Hikari Mirabilis was every bit as loyal as Imakarum.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Fried'rich van Purg'stall was also contemplating the new addition to the Chronos Overlords, though he was not entirely certain if the term 'new addition' was best applied to Lord or Lady Imakarum. Still, it was good to have an extra Zoalord to counter the fact that the Guyvers' numbers had been doubled. The fact that Lady Imakarum had expressed an interest in having Yukari Fukamachi join Chronos' glorious cause, and the fact that the girl herself had seemed to have a rather strong sentimental connection with Lady Imakarum, had given Fried'rich the idea to make that statement to the world at large.

Now the girl would have the chance to join Chronos' ranks, though in what capacity Fried'rich was not entirely certain. Still, he supposed that it would be useful to have one who knew so much about the inner workings of the Guyvers' little rebel group working in the service of Chronos. The matter of the female Guyver I would hopefully be resolved in a satisfactory manner.

Now that Lord and Lady Imakarum had been recalled to the Dead Sea Plant in the absence of Guyver attacks, Fried'rich felt more free to concentrate on his own duties to Chronos. It was not that he was or had been ungrateful to Lord and Lady Imakarum for their assistance, however seeing the two Zoalords in such close proximity to one another - while his mind stubbornly insisted that only one of them was supposed to exist - was somewhat unnerving for him.

Best to have them far enough away that he wouldn't be distracted by such things.

That would at the very least give Fried'rich time to acclimate to the idea of having two Twelfth Zoalords. Turning back to his work, Fried'rich considered again the problem of Yukari Fukamachi. She, even more than Sho Fukamachi, seemed to be the weak link in the Guyvers' rebel group. Her sentimental attachment to the woman who had become Lady Imakarum was even somewhat stronger than Sho Fukamachi's was to Lord Imakarum.

This was a weakness that could be exploited, given enough subtlety on Chronos' part. Fried'rich was slightly uneasy about using such an emotional girl's attachments against her, but he comforted himself with the fact that while Yukari continued to fight against Chronos, the memories of the woman that Lady Imakarum had once been would continue to haunt her.

It would really be best for the girl's own mental health if she was inducted into the ranks of Chronos.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Hikari Mirabilis, now returned to her quarters after her discussion with Lord Imakarum, reached up to her left shoulder and removed the pauldron there. Setting it down on the table next to her bed, Hikari removed the pauldron there and set it next to the one that had rested on her left shoulder. Unfastening her floor-length cape, Hikari folded it neatly and placed it beside the pauldrons.

Bending down, Hikari unfastened her shin-guards and set them down at the base of the table. Sitting on the edge of her bed, Hikari removed her boots and set them down next to her shin-guards. Standing back up, Hikari reached up and pulled the zipper on the back of her bodysuit down until it had reached the center of her back.

Switching her grip to her other hand, Hikari pulled the zipper open the rest of the way and then shucked out of her jumpsuit. Folding the garment neatly, Hikari placed it next to her cape. The door's chime distracted Hikari from what she had been doing, and Hikari waited for a moment to see if the chime had been rung by mistake.

As it turned out, though, whoever had rung the chime did indeed want to speak with her. It wouldn't do to greet any of her subordinates, to say nothing of her superiors, dressed in nothing but a strapless bra and pair of panties. Still, she also did not want to delay her grooming for longer than she needed to, so Hikari picked up her cape and wrapped it around herself.

Tucking the edges of the cape firmly under her arms, Hikari started over to her door just as her mysterious caller rung the chime for a third time. Once there, Hikari opened the door and was confronted by a Zoanoid. A Cadan; she knew.

"Your Excellency... is this a bad time?"

"That depends, is the situation urgent?"

"Well," the Cadan seemed slightly embarrassed, his eyes flickering over her body briefly before he fixed his gaze on her face. "No, it's not that urgent, Excellency. It's only a meeting that's been requested. I'll go tell them to reschedule."

"Thank you," Hikari said, closing her door and walking back into her room.

Unwrapping her cape, Hikari refolded it and set it back down next to her bodysuit. Reaching behind her back again, Hikari unclasped her bra and set it down on top of her cape. The janitorial staff would doubtless be in later to deal with her clothes once she herself was out of the main area of the room. Both since Hikari herself had contacted them, and because of the fact that the Cadan had seen her state of undress and paged them as well.

Tossing her panties on the floor next to her shin-guards, Hikari turned away from the neatly piled clothes and armor and headed in the direction of her own private bathroom. Only the Zoalords who were stationed in this facility were given the privilege to have this kind of setup in their rooms, and Hikari was no exception to this rule. Briefly, she wondered just how it had come about that her own room existed in this place.

All of the Zoalords' personal quarters were highly individualized, and yet both her and Lord Imakarum's quarters - obviously his, since Hikari had seen his influences in the decoration of the room - were contained within the Dead Sea Plant. Deciding that it was most likely a result of whatever strange accident that had brought her to meet Lord Imakarum in the first place, Hikari put the thought our of her mind.

Opening the door to her own private bathroom, Hikari closed it softly behind her and headed for the specialized shower unit. Opening the stall door, Hikari twisted the hot-water tap until it had opened all the way, and then she turned away from the shower to see to a few other things while the water heated up. Striding over to the cupboard by the sink, Hikari opened it and retrieved her hairbrush and a washcloth.

She also retrieved a small box from a lower shelf. Hikari hoped that she would not be having to deal with the problem that the little... items in the box were created to solve, but as her body had been feeling a little out of sorts lately she would prepare for all eventualities. Even one she didn't really want to deal with.

Setting the hairbrush and the box down on the countertop by the sink, Hikari turned back to the shower. The steam building up on the inside of the marbled glass clearly indicated that the water had heated up enough for her tastes by this time. Opening the door opposite the faucet this time, Hikari stepped into the shower and closed the door behind herself.

Standing under the stream of hot water long enough to thoroughly soak her long black hair, Hikari sat down and leaned back against the curved back wall of her large shower. The hot water felt extremely pleasant on her legs and midsection, the high temperature melting the tension in her abdominal muscles and enabling her to relax more completely; something that she would not have been able to do as well had she been standing up.

Picking up the bar of soap and wrapping it up in her washcloth, Hikari rubbed the cloth vigorously until a reasonable amount of foam had gathered on the outside, Hikari stood back up and began to scrub herself with the wrapped soap. Once she had finished scrubbing her legs and lower-body and moved on to her arms, the sharp tang of blood in her nose distracted Hikari from what she had been doing.

_I suppose then that I predicted right,_ Hikari mused with slight annoyance, watching as a thin trickle of blood made its way down the inside of her left thigh. _This will make my time here rather more difficult if I don't manage to keep the side-effects in check; what a bother._ Sighing, since there wasn't much more that she could do about the situation at the moment, Hikari simply washed the blood from her leg and then returned her attention to her arms and upper body.

Once she had finished with that task, which had also included unwrapping the soap and washing her face, Hikari replaced the bar on its holder and picked up her sweet-scented shampoo. It was the only real concession she allowed herself to the fact that she was what she was. As far as Hikari was concerned, she was a Zoalord, no different than her fellow Lords.

Still, she was rather fond of sweet smells, and so Hikari allowed herself this one indulgence. It was not harmful to Lord Alkanphel's great cause, and it was pleasant to do for herself, and so Hikari continued. The amount of shampoo she had to use on her long mane of black hair sometimes troubled her, but as Chronos' resources were all but limitless in this world, she put that out of her mind as well.

Once she had finished her shower, Hikari shut off the hot tap and climbed out. Heading directly for the counter, and by extension the small box on top of it, Hikari plucked the box off the counter and headed for the small room off the main bathroom; the one that held the toilet.

Once she had finished with what she had to do there, which had also included washing her hands at the small sink that was contained in the room, Hikari froze. Wrapping the towel tightly around her still-nude and slightly dripping body, Hikari turned to face the one who had been audacious enough to teleport into her private bathroom when she herself was using it. As far as she knew her fellow Zoalords had more sense, if not courtesy, than that.

"Dr. Balkus?" Hikari said, bowing to her superior instinctively and forgetting her earlier annoyance.

"I would like to extend my sincere apologies to you, Hikari Mirabilis; I seem to have neglected to give you this."

Dr. Balkus was holding up a small vial full of green liquid; Hikari knew almost before he handed it to her what the Second Zoalord wanted her to do.

"I thank you for your concern, Doctor," Hikari stated, bowing even as Dr. Balkus teleported out.

Lifting the vial to her lips, Hikari tilted her head back and drank the contents in a single gulp. Licking her lips, Hikari set the empty vial on the countertop and dried herself. Hanging up the damp towel, Hikari retrieved a dry one and proceeded to wring the water from her hair. Once she had finished with that task, Hikari retrieved her hairdryer and dried the remainder of her long hair.

Leaving her private bathroom, Hikari headed for the pile of clothes that she had shed before she had taken her shower. Stopping for a moment when she reached her dresser, Hikari took out a new pair of panties and another bra. Her undergarments had doubtless been thrown into the wash with her bodysuit, and Hikari had no desire to wear her bodysuit without undergarments on.

Turning back to the front of her room, Hikari walked over to her bed and sat down. Pulling on her undergarments, Hikari quickly adjusted them so that they fit her more comfortably and then she stood up again. Stepping over to her nightstand, Hikari noticed that there was a box of Junior Mints on top of her neatly folded bodysuit. 'Perhaps Lord Imakarum's assessment was correct,' Hikari thought with gentle good-humor, picking up the box and setting it aside.

Removing her bodysuit from the tabletop, Hikari slipped into it and zipped it up. Then, gathering her shin-guards and setting them on her bed, Hikari put her boots on and then snapped her shin-guards into place. Rising again, Hikari re-affixed her pauldrons to her shoulders and picked up the chest-piece. Fastening it on securely, Hikari turned and left her room.

There were two Zoanoids waiting outside her room, a Bresnel and a Razell. The same two, in fact, that had greeted her at her desk before Lord Imakarum had come.

"Have they rescheduled the meeting?"

"Yes, your Excellency. You're wanted there now."

"Very well," Hikari said, gesturing for the Zoanoids to proceed her to the meeting place.

Walking along behind the Zoanoids, Hikari made her way to the meeting place. It turned out to be the meeting hall reserved specifically for gatherings of the Chronos Overlords, Hikari winced slightly. If she had known that her fellow Zoalords were the ones who had wanted to speak with her earlier, Hikari would have never allowed herself to be distracted by something as trivial as a shower. Of course, that might have had... unpleasant consequences later.

The Zoanoids, their task completed, turned and left after bowing to Hikari. Hikari herself entered the meeting room and addressed her fellow Zoalords.

"I apologize for not attending earlier; I was unfortunately not made aware of the importance of this meeting."

"No need for that, my Lady," Lord Imakarum said. "Dr. Balkus has informed us about your situation."

"I thank you, then, Doctor," Hikari said, inclining her head respectfully to Dr. Balkus where he sat. "Now that we are all gathered together, my Lords, what was the purpose of this meeting?"

"There have been reports of a resistance force operating out of the Sahara, calling themselves the People's Army. Hikari, Imakarum, you two are to find these rebels and destroy them utterly," Dr. Balkus stated flatly. "I want an example made of these fools."

"Yes, Doctor," Imakarum and Hikari answered as one.

"We will proceed to the location of this human outpost and obliterate it," Hikari said, standing with Imakarum.

"Good, see that there are no survivors among the commanders of this rebel group. You may allow a few of the lower-ranked soldiers to survive, provided that you destroy all of the equipment that they have come into possession of."

"Yes, Doctor."

With that, Imakarum and Hikari bowed once more to their fellow Zoalords and walked out of the room.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Once the two Zoalords of Gravity received further instructions, detailing the location of the compound where the People's Army was staying, they continued on their way. Since neither of them knew the precise location of the compound, nor any details of the interior, they would not be able to teleport inside. Instead, they were planning to teleport into the Sahara and begin their search from there.

They had both discussed this course of action, and had mutually decided that this way was the most expedient. Whether or not this People's Army had anything that could harm their Zoanoids was immaterial to them; the facts of the matter were plain: this People's Army was challenging Chronos' power just by existing. Perhaps they had been inspired by the Guyvers, but other humans might be tempted to join their ranks.

That was not something that any of the Chronos Overlords were willing to risk, pitiful though this particular militia was.

That was why Imakarum and Hikari were going to utterly annihilate this group of wayward humans: to show any and all of the others that might try to follow in their misguided footsteps just what happened to those who defied Chronos. Leaving the Dead Sea Plant, Imakarum and Hikari quickly flew off and teleported themselves to the Sahara desert.

Scanning the surrounding landscape with their senses, the two Zoalords found nothing, and so they moved on. They repeated the process four more times with the same result, but on the fifth pass they found it. It was not so large, as military compounds went, but since most of those places had been destroyed after X-Day it was likely the best they could find. Still, it would not protect them.

With a short telepathic exchange, Hikari and Imakarum decided on the roles that they would take on during the attack itself; Imakarum would drive the human vermin out of their little hiding place, while Hikari went inside to deal more personally with the ones who had been foolish enough to defy Chronos in this manner. Imakarum's signal, in the form of a barrage of Gravity Bullets directed at the compound, was soon given.

Hikari, taking full advantage of her enhanced speed, raced into the compound. A single blast was enough to reduce the barrier standing in front of her to a broken wreck, and Hikari raced into the main area of the compound. The humans inside were nothing to her, and Hikari killed them without wasting time listening to their pleas for mercy. She had no time for such nonsense; likewise, the humans inside this place had forfeited their right to considerations such as that when they had decided to start this doomed rebellion in the first place.

Once all of the humans had either fled or died by her hand, Hikari rose back into the air to join Imakarum.

"It's good to have you back, my Lady."

"And it is, of course, my pleasure to be back, my Lord."

"It seems we have some escapees," Imakarum said, looking down on the running humans below with amused contempt.

"It seems that we do," Hikari concurred, chuckling. "What shall we do with them, my Lord?"

"After we finish destroying this base, I think we should have a little fun with them, my Lady."

Hikari grinned, and when she saw Imakarum doing the same, they both started laughing. Turning their attention back to the now half-destroyed military compound, Hikari and Imakarum both turned and fired a barrage of energy blasts and Incision Waves at the remains of the compound, reducing it and everything inside to flaming wreckage and scattered rubble. Then, once that task was done, they turned their attentions to the humans who were even then trying to escape the fate that they had brought upon themselves.

Dropping almost to ground level, Hikari and Imakarum glided over the sand in pursuit of their prey. Imakarum hunted with lethal precision, using his Incision Waves to slice up the bodies of the fleeing humans. By contrast, Hikari preferred to come at her opponents from behind, grabbing them by the head and flinging them into the air high enough that they would suffer fatal injuries on landing.

_-My Lord, weren't we supposed to leave a few of the humans alive?-_

_-Yes, my Lady. Perhaps we should leave now, before we end up killing all of them,-_ Imakarum said offhandedly.

_-Perhaps we should.-_

Turning away from the remaining humans, Imakarum and Hikari flew off into the air and teleported back to the Dead Sea Plant.


	5. Duality Of Ambition

**Duality of Ambition**

It had taken some work, but they had both managed to extricate themselves from the house where all of the others were staying. Both Agito and Akane wanted to find out just how their Zeus Thunderbolt had been affected by what Tetsuro had surmised to be a fusion of two disparate universes. If some of the soldiers who served them had been duplicated the way that they themselves had, then all the better.

After all, the more soldiers that were available to them, then the easier their future plans would become. Though there was now the complication of their being two of them, but since Agito knew Akane's motives and fighting style, he thought it would be easy to deal with her if it ever came to that. The two of them had discussed what they knew about Chronos, though Agito suspected that Akane hadn't told him all of the information that she had gathered while she had worked for them.

He would have done the same, after all.

As the two of them made their way into one of the many hidden bases the Zeus Thunderbolt utilized, Agito entered the code that would let him into the facility. All the while, he wondered if his own code would work, or if he would end up being required to ask Akane for assistance. As it turned out, though, his entry code did indeed work on this door. Of course, that left Agito wondering if Akane's code would have even worked on this door.

It would be interesting to find out, at a more convenient time of course.

"Sir! Glad to see you're back from- Ma'am?" Jeffries looked from him to Akane and then back again, twice. "What's going on here?"

"We can explain that later," Akane said offhandedly. "For now, we would appreciate it if you gathered all of the personnel here into the mess hall. It will be more convenient for all of us if Agito and I are only required to explain the situation once."

"Yes, ma'am," Jeffries saluted, hurrying off to gather the other members of this branch of Zeus Thunderbolt.

"Well, now I suppose we'll find out just how this event effected our forces," Agito said.

"Yes, I suppose we will."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Yukari, having been awakened from yet another nightmare by Sho's comforting presence, buried her face in Sho's chest and shivered. It had been two and a half weeks since the two of them had fought the Murakamis, and neither Sho nor Yukari had managed to forget the battle long enough to get any real sleep. Yukari was starting to nod-off at odd moments during the day, since she slept so little at night.

Tetsuro had said that Sho had been having the same problems, and Yukari had said that she was sorry to hear that. She really was; maybe she could warm up some milk for them before they went to bed tonight, the way that her father had always done for her when she couldn't sleep. Thinking of her father, Yukari felt the usual slight pang of sadness. She and Sho had talked about their respective fathers, and how they had died.

She thought it was sad, how much those parts of their lives were the same. Well, a lot of parts of their lives were the same, but Yukari had still held out hope that Sho's life would have been better than hers in that respect, at least. Turning her head so that she could rest the side of it against Sho's chest, Yukari sighed.

"Do you want to get up now, or should we try to get some more sleep?" Yukari asked.

"We're not really doing anything today," Sho said, sounding just as tired as Yukari felt. "And I'm still tired," here, Sho yawned. "I think we should try to get some more sleep."

"Wait here," Yukari said, climbing out of the futon.

"Where are you going?"

"Well, I... I kind of have to use the toilet."

"Oh," Sho blushed, turning away from Yukari as she left.

When she was out of Sho's room, Yukari finished what she had had to do, washed her hands thoroughly, and headed for the kitchen. Maybe some warm milk would help them both sleep, the same way it always had when she was younger. Yukari just hoped that they wouldn't be woken up by nightmares again. Even with what had happened to the Murakamis... even though she was still sad, Yukari knew that she was losing too much sleep.

It was a good thing that they didn't have any attacks on Chronos planned, because Yukari could barely function with how little sleep she had been getting lately. And from the way he was acting when she saw him, Yukari knew that Sho was having the same problems as she was. Yukari hoped that this would help them both to get at least some rest; she hoped, but she didn't really know.

Pouring a little more than two glasses worth of milk into a small saucepan, Yukari heated the milk on the stove until it looked like it was warm enough. Shutting off the burner, Yukari poured a little bit of milk into her glass and tasted it. It was nice and warm, so she poured half of the milk into her glass and half into the glass that she had gotten for Sho.

Picking up the glasses, Yukari carried them over to the table and set them down again. Then she soaked the saucepan. Since it would have taken too much time to wash it, and since she wanted to give Sho the milk before it got cold, Yukari picked up the glasses and headed back to the room that she and Sho shared.

She would come back to clean the saucepan later.

Once Yukari had made it back to the room that she shared with Sho, she handed him one of the glasses.

"What's this?"

"Warm milk," Yukari said. Then, seeing Sho's confusion, Yukari elaborated. "Father always brought it for me when I couldn't sleep, and it's always helped me."

"Oh. Thank you," Sho said, sipping the milk.

"You're welcome," Yukari said, drinking her own milk. The feel of the warm liquid sliding down her throat made her feel better, nice and sleepy instead of jumpy and wide awake like she always was after she had nightmares.

Setting the glass down on the floor far enough away from the futon that she wouldn't accidentally knock it over in her sleep, Yukari turned over to look at Sho. He'd finished off his milk by now, and so Yukari took his glass and set it down next to her own. Rolling over to sleep on her left side, facing Sho, Yukari smiled and closed her eyes.

She really hoped that they both had a better time sleeping after this.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

There had been a rather thorough head-count, and after that, both of them had gone over the personnel files for all of their organization. It had taken a great deal of work to get through the safeguards that they had both installed in the system, and their many and varied password-protections, but eventually she and Agito had managed to do just that.

There had been thirty members of Zeus Thunderbolt that had been duplicated in the same way that she, Yukari, and the Zoalord Hikari Mirabilis had been. Most of those had been the members of her and Agito's respective inner-circles, but Akane was never one to look too harshly upon something that could be used to her own advantage.

"I suppose the next thing we should think about is what to do next," Agito said, once they had finished with their investigations.

"I have a few ideas on that front," Akane said calmly, folding her hands on the table.

"Oh?"

"I know that the two of us would never be able to work with each other over a long period of time," Akane said reasonably. "And I'm not so naïve as to suggest that we share control of this world."

"And so? You're not going to suggest that we fight over this, are you?"

"No," Akane said sharply. "There is too much at stake now for us to be engaged in a power-struggle, and likewise there would be nothing to gain from such a thing. I was thinking of something else."

"What?"

"Have you heard about, or managed to gain any information on, Chronos' "Ark Project"?"

"No; though it sounds like a vessel of some kind."

"Correct," Akane said, producing a data CD from one of the pockets of her darkly colored jacket and setting it on the table between them. "This is all of the data that I have managed to gather on Chronos' Ark. Feel free to look it over."

"I will," Agito said, taking the CD and looking at it thoughtfully. "Still, I am interested to know just how you managed to smuggle this vital piece of intelligence out of Chronos' headquarters?"

"That's one of my more brilliant tactics," Akane said, chuckling. "After all, there are very few men that will think to look closely at the contents of a box of tampons," Akane smirked, "Or inside a woman's brassiere."

Agito raised an eyebrow. "That last one sounds rather uncomfortable."

"One does what one must," Akane said.

"Yes; and I commend you willingness to do so," Agito stood up. "I will take a look at what information you have gathered about this Ark of Chronos'. Then we can make further plans."

"I look forward to that," Akane said, rising from her seat and leaving the room.

After pocketing the disc that Akane had given him, Agito left the room as well.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Picking up the glasses, Sho looked over at Yukari again. She really did look cute when she was sleeping, and since Yukari had been the one to bring them the warm milk in the first place; something that Sho was grateful for since it did help him to get to sleep last night, Sho decided that he would wash them for her. It was only fair, after all.

Leaving Yukari to sleep, Sho quietly opened the door and then quietly closed it again once he was out of the room. Yukari might have been a pretty heavy sleeper, but Sho though she would have appreciated his consideration. He would have, if their positions had been reversed. Walking to the kitchen, Sho set the glasses gently in the sink and proceeded to wash them.

He also washed the smallish saucepan that Yukari had presumably used to heat up the milk in the first place. Drying them and putting them up, Sho hung up the towel and left the kitchen. He saw Tetsuro, yawning and generally looking like he'd only reluctantly dragged himself out of bed, and would be returning to the comfort of his nice warm bed as soon as possible.

Watching as Tetsuro poured himself a glass of water and drank it quickly, Sho smiled. They would eventually have to find some way of starting their attacks on Chronos again, and then they would probably end up facing... them, but for now they could rest. For now, they didn't have to worry.

For now they were as safe as they could be, at least.

"So the Ark that Chronos has been creating, or rather recreating, is in fact the engineered remains of the Relic," Agito commented, folding his hands beneath his chin. "Interesting. With that in our possession, we would be able to do far more than simply rule this world."

"Yes," Akane said, nodding. "There would still be the matter of obtaining it, something that would doubtless prove both very difficult and dangerous. Still, with the proper planning we should be able to procure at least some new information about the project."

Agito nodded, returning his attention to the data that Akane had gathered on Chronos' Ark and where it was most likely being developed. Getting inside Chronos' well-guarded and highly top-secret Dead Sea Plant would be a decent challenge, but with Akane's knowledge of Chronos' facilities and procedures added to his own, Agito was certain that they would be able to turn this new development of Chronos' science to their own advantage.

It was only a matter of how.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

"You think she's ever going to come out?" a large, nondescript man wondered aloud, looking over at the Odagiri mansion from his place on a nearby rooftop.

"That's not for us to worry about," said another man, just as average looking as his counterpart. "We're just here to watch."

"Yeah, and not get eaten by Aptom," grumbled the first, who was not really a man but a Zoanoid.

"That's pretty much a given," the other Zoanoid said, chuckling darkly.

With nothing to say in response to that, the two Zoanoids turned back to their rather tedious surveillance duties. There were small pockets of them all over the city; Zoanoids that were specifically bred to track the scents of certain humans, even in large crowds. They were able to pick out and then follow a single human scent through even the largest crowd or the densest forest. They were all in the city for a far more specific purpose than keeping an eye on the human population: they were meant to learn the habits and tendencies of the Guyver girl Yukari Fukamachi.

They had been assigned to discretely keep tabs on her, learning where she went and what she enjoyed. Her Excellency Hikari had made their orders abundantly clear when she'd given them, and none of the Zoanoids wanted to disappoint her. To say nothing of the fact that Her Excellency was a Zoalord, there was just something about her that made it seem like sacrilege to so much as disappoint her.

She was Hikari, after all, the Holy Mother of Chronos. At least, that was what a lot of the guys called her. Sure, she could be kind of intense at times, or a lot of the time, but then a lot of the Overlords were like that. And none of them were as cute as Her Excellency, anyway. There was the mild weirdness of them not really being sure whether Her Excellency was really His Excellency Lord Imakarum's sister or not, but then again this wasn't really something any of them thought about very much.

It was just what they had to deal with.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Are you really certain that this is going to work? I thought that Fukamachi was the only one who was able to pilot the Relic."

"I am fairly sure that the reason neither of us was able to pilot was because we resisted when it was attempting to create the link between its main computer and the Guyver's Control Medal. That might not be the case for the Ark."

"I see," Agito said, folding his hands under his chin. "Still, there is the matter of the Ark being in Chronos' possession. How would you suggest that we infiltrate the Dead Sea Plant to gain control of it?"

"I think that reaching the Middle East without being detected will be our largest concern for the moment. We can plan for contingencies once we have a clear idea of what opposition we're going to be facing once we find a way inside."

"I suppose that's a fair point," Agito said.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Yukari and Sho had volunteered to wash the breakfast dishes once the meal was done, and that was just what they were doing at the moment. Though they did occasionally playfully flick soapsuds at one another. Mizuki came in during one such time.

The first thing that gave Mizuki away was when she started giggling at the sight of her friends playing in soapsuds like they didn't have a care in the world.

"I swear, you two act more like a married couple than my parents," Mizuki giggled as Yukari and Sho blushed. "You two aren't going to start dating now, are you?" she asked teasingly.

"I don't think so," Yukari said, still slightly blushing. "It would be too much like dating myself. I mean, I like myself, but I don't think I'd like to date myself, really," Yukari sighed. "Did that make any sense?"

"Not much," Mizuki said, chuckling. "But I think I understood it anyway."

"We should really get back to washing the dishes now," Sho said, smiling. "It was really nice talking to you, Mizuki."

"It was nice talking to you, too," Mizuki said, going over to give Sho a one-armed hug before she left.

"You're lucky to have her, Sho," Yukari said, rinsing the bowl that Sho had handed to her.

"You have her too, you know," Sho said, as he washed another plate and handed it to Yukari.

"Not like you do, though," Yukari said. "At least, I don't think I do. After that night, though..."

"What happened then?"

"Oh!" Yukari exclaimed, not having realized that she had spoken that last part out loud. "It was nothing; nothing at all."

For about ten seconds, Sho looked as if he was going to probe more deeply about what Yukari had been talking about, but then he just shrugged and turned back to his washing. Yukari sighed in relief; she wasn't sure just why Mizuki had done... well, that; but if she and Sho were already involved, Yukari didn't want to do anything to come between them. It would have been less confusing if she and Akane hadn't ended up here in the first place, but they had.

They had, and now they would have to deal with what they found here. Yukari sighed again and returned to her rinsing.

"Is something wrong, Yukari?"

"No," Yukari said, shaking her head as she rinsed another dish and set it on the drainer to dry. "I was just thinking. It's really strange how we're all here together now, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Sho said, as he finished washing the last of the dishes and handing it over to her. "I'm glad you did, though. With... everything that's happened, it's nice to have someone to talk to."

"Yeah," Yukari said, putting the dish in to drain with the others. "It really is."

Patting Yukari's shoulder as he turned and left the kitchen, Sho felt Yukari wrap an arm around his waist and squeeze lightly before she strode out of the room beside him. Once they had made it back to the main room, Yukari and Sho found another surprise waiting for them.

"Akane! Agito! I didn't expect you two to be back so soon," Yukari said, happily surprised. "You missed breakfast, though."

"We ate before we arrived," Akane said offhandedly.

"Oh, that's good, then," Yukari said. "We'll just leave you two alone, then. Welcome back!" Yukari called over her shoulder as she left with Sho.

"Do you ever wonder where they keep going when they leave like that?" Sho asked, looking back they way they'd come.

"I've learned not to ask questions about that anymore."

Sho nodded. "You kind of have to, I guess, after they just keep ignoring you like that."


	6. Discretion of Hunters

**Discretion of Hunters**

When the two figures dressed in heavy coats and floppy hats came out where the two Zoanoids could see them, said Zoanoids moved to discreetly observe them. The winds weren't quite right for them to catch any scents, but even without that they weren't at too much of a disadvantage. The wind could carry voices, and almost all of them were familiar with the sound of Yukari Fukamachi's voice.

They'd signaled Citiciss to be ready, since someone outside meant someone could spot him a great deal more easily than they could when their field of view was limited by a window. Watching as the two figures, one of whom just might have been little Yukari Fukamachi, as they strolled around in the nice sized garden around the side of the house the two tracker-Zoanoids listened to hear any conversation that they might be having.

They didn't manage to hear anything, though, since the people on the ground were just a little too far away for them to hear, and the wind wasn't helping this time. The sound of footsteps on the rooftop behind them alerted the Zoanoids to the fact that they weren't the only ones on the rooftop anymore. Before they could turn and confront the person standing behind them, they each felt a strong hand close around their necks.

Itching, burning pain spread through their bodies, and before they could so much as scream they felt some other presence invading their minds...

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Aptom grinned as he felt the Zoanoids becoming a part of his body. It looked like he was going to have to hunt down a Citiciss if he wanted to make sure that Chronos wasn't going to be able to find out too much about the Guyvers' safehouse. And, as far as Aptom was concerned anything more than the fact that it was there was too much for those bastards to know.

So Aptom was going to find that Citiciss and then he was going to have some tasty Zoa-bird for a side dish. No one except him was allowed to threaten Guyver I; either of them. Though the fact that these little appetizers were so interested in little Yukari wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting. He'd pretty much expected that Chronos would be out for both of them, since they were both causing the same amount of trouble for Chronos.

Though at the moment that amount was none, so really they shouldn't be so concerned about what two little Guyvers were doing way out here. The fact that those little Guyvers seemed to be taking a vacation from doing stuff to piss Chronos off was kind of unexpected, but with how badly those two had been shaken-up by what had happened to their friends, maybe he shouldn't expect them to do anything for awhile.

Aptom just hoped that they'd get over their issues with confronting Chronos' new Zoalords sometime soon, or he was going to have to take it upon himself to shake them up again. Those two were thickheaded enough that Aptom wasn't sure they'd be able to adapt with any real speed, but then again he could always hope for them to get their heads on straight.

Before he had to resort to something drastic like _beating_ the reluctance out of them.

Though he wasn't going to count on those two coming to their senses anytime soon. That meant that he'd have to keep busting his ass to keep those two idiots from getting themselves killed by Chronos. Or captured, in Yukari's case. Though why Chronos would even bother capturing her in the first place, Aptom wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Aptom almost found himself wondering why Chronos didn't seem interested in Sho, but for the moment he had far more interesting things to concern himself with. That tasty little Citiciss was going to make a nice between-meal snack.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Sitting in Prof. Odagiri's garden, playing with a flower that she had picked, Yukari tried not to think of anything in particular. At least, nothing pertaining to the... currant situation. The feel of the sun on her face was nice, at least where it got past her hat. Yukari was glad that they had managed to find some clothes that would hide their identities from anyone or anything that might have been watching them.

She just hoped that nothing would happen while she and Sho were trying to enjoy the day with each other. The shriek of something in pain drew Yukari's attention away from the flower she was holding. Looking up toward the roof of Prof. Odagiri's house, Yukari just managed to catch sight of something that looked very much like the wing of a bird.

Though it would have had to be a very large bird, to have a wing that size. And the only birds that grew to be that size were... Dropping the flower, Yukari ran over to the back of the mansion, calling the Guyver even as she turned the corner. Yukari could hear Sho's voice, calling out and asking her what she was doing, but she wasn't going to stop.

If that wing really did belong to one of Chronos' bird-type Zoanoids, then everyone in the mansion - all of her friends - could be in very real danger. Flying up to the roof of Odagiri's mansion, Yukari was confronted by the strangest sight she had ever seen thus far.

Aptom had his hands wrapped around the neck of the birdlike Zoanoid, and most of the Zoanoid's body was almost completely absorbed into the Zoanoid eating Lost Unit's body.

"Hey, little girl!" Aptom called, grinning happily at Yukari as he finished absorbing the bird-Zoanoid. "You got all dressed up nice and came to watch me eat," Aptom cackled.

"I didn't know you were here; sorry for interrupting your meal," Yukari said, bowing her head slightly. Then she turned to look at Sho, who had just transformed and flew up to meet them. "Oh! Sho, what are you doing here?"

"I saw you up here, and I thought you might need my help, Yukari. I guess I didn't really need to come," Sho said, laughing slightly at his own overreaction.

"I guess I didn't need to, either," Yukari said, rubbing the back of her head as she giggled in embarrassment.

"You two always did that," Aptom said, smirking at the two Guyver Is. "You're predictable. I knew you'd be up here once you saw that bird-brain's wing flapping around."

"I guess we did kind of overreact there," Sho said, sounding chagrinned. "Sorry, Aptom."

"Please," the Lost Unit rolled his eyes. "It isn't like either of you to just ignore something that could be a threat to the people in that house," Aptom made an off-handed gesture at the mansion he was standing on. "I know you two; I know how you operate, and I know how you react to things you think of as threats. I was expecting this."

Without another word to Aptom, Yukari and Sho both descended back to the garden outside Odagiri's mansion. Shedding their armors, Sho and Yukari went back into the garden while Aptom finished eating his meal. Sitting back down beside a bed of purple Irises, Yukari touched the petals of the flower closest to where she was sitting.

She was glad to have Aptom there as a last line of defense against any Zoanoids that managed to get past them, or any that attacked while they were away for some reason. Yukari didn't want to think about the kind of situation that would require them to all leave the house at once, though Akane and Agito had been in and out at odd intervals. And they were both being so secretive all the time.

She and Sho had talked about that, speculating on what the tow of them might have been doing. It had to be something to do with that para-military force that they had built to fight against Chronos with them. There wasn't any other reason that they would be so secretive, at least none that Yukari was aware of.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Once he'd finished with his meal of fresh Zoa-bird, Aptom extended a pair of wings from an insect-type Zoanoid that he'd eaten about half a year ago. Aptom wasn't too concerned about remembering its name; it was just another meal to him. They all were.

Sho and Yukari were the only ones that he considered worthy of his time; the only ones that he was interested in.

As he left the mansion behind him, Aptom thought over what he had learned. It wasn't really much more than what he knew before: Chronos was interested in Yukari more than Sho, and they intended to make some kind of drastic moves against her. What was interesting was that the orders to capture Yukari had come from the Lady Mirabilis herself.

Though, judging by the information that he'd managed to pull from the minds of his newest meals, the male Imakarum was pretty interested in her, too. That was really interesting; Aptom smirked as he flew to the temporary place he had made for himself to stay in for awhile. He'd probably have to move soon; no matter how easy the Zoanoids were to kill, none of them were that stupid.

It made hunting them more challenging, and that made it more fun.

But for now, Aptom wanted to rest up a bit before going on his next hunting trip. There would be more than enough time to pick his targets and find out what those two Zoalords wanted with his prey. As he continued to make his way to his temporary resting-place, Aptom started to plan his next hunting excursion.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

As they moved throughout the city, blending in with the population in order to be more effective as they gathered intelligence about Yukari Fukamachi's habits and proclivities. So far, though, there had been no sightings of the girl. Even after more than a month and a half of discreet surveillance in the city near where she had been spotted more often than not.

As they made their way to the next block, the pair of Zoanoids that had been assigned to patrol this area of the city for this time of day chatted amiably. They weren't exactly getting lax about their duties, but they were both slowly settling into a routine. Looking around only occasionally, since by now all of them knew what Yukari Fukamachi looked like and they would know what to look like when they were looking for her, the two Ramotith moved to cross the street.

Once they stood on the other side, both of them headed toward the flower shop that was their last stop of the day. As they settled in to watch the people as they walked in and out, and made their rounds of the little store as they shopped. Every now and then one of them would make the rounds of the little store and look at the faces of the people shopping.

Another Zoanoid, one of the rare Valvas models, came into the store then. The two Ramotith nodded to their fellow Zoanoid. Valvas were good at tracking people by scent, and more than that they already had the scent of Yukari Fukamachi imprinted in their minds. That would make it even easier for them to find the little girl and bring her back to Chronos.

It'd be kind of interesting to see just what Lord and Lady Mirabilis had in mind for her, since those two were the ones that had planned to capture that little girl. Maybe they were going to torture her for information, maybe they just wanted to kill her personally. Whatever those two Zoalords wanted, it was certainly going to be interesting to watch what they did when they got their hands on her.

Their shift over, but without so much as a hint of Yukari Fukamachi's presence, the three Zoanoids turned and left the little flower shop. Maybe their replacements would have better luck.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

There had been more than a few close calls over the last six weeks, what with Zoanoids looking for anyone who looked or smelled like her, that Yukari had decided to stop going out with Natsuki on her shopping runs. Sure, she could help carry out the bags of groceries, but if her help would be putting Natsuki in danger, then it wasn't worth the risk.

And anyway, that didn't stop her from helping to put up those groceries when Natsuki got home with them.

There were almost enough things to do around the house to distract Yukari from the fact that she was essentially a prisoner inside the mansion. In fact, she had taken to asking Shizu to let her help with the cooking just so she would have something to distract her from that fact. Shizu had welcomed the help, and she had also seemed to understand Yukari's reasons for wanting to do such a thing.

Shizu, while a bit too obsessed with Agito than what Yukari thought was safe, could possibly be the most understanding person that Yukari had met. Tetsuro, while he understood her better on a personal level given the fact that they had been friends for so long, was still a boy. That didn't mean that she didn't like to speak with him about things, it just meant that he sometimes didn't fully understand what she was getting at.

As of right now, though, Yukari was dusting the shelves of Prof. Odagiri's large personal library. This was one of the places that Yukari liked to stay when she needed to be alone; to think or just to take a break from everyone else in the house. It was sometimes nice to be around so many people, but as an only child Yukari still felt a little crowded at times.

Talking to Sho had helped Yukari to realize that she wasn't so alone in feeling that way. Her and Sho's lives were so similar in some ways that Yukari felt as if she'd grown up with him. They even shared a father, though that was a painful subject to think about at times. They didn't usually talk about their shared past, her and Sho, to avoid opening up old wounds.

Mizuki probably wouldn't have approved, citing the need for her and Sho to talk about the things that upset them, just to make sure that they knew where they stood with one another, and so there wasn't any awkwardness between them. Or, maybe she wouldn't say anything like that.

Mizuki seemed to be, not more withdrawn exactly, but more careful about when she spoke and what she spoke about. Maybe that was just a side effect of her crush on Sho, though. Like her, he was on the shy side, and like her he could easily be driven off if someone was too aggressive in pursuing him.

That was probably why Mizuki was so much more reserved-seeming than Yukari had ever remembered her being.

Finished with her dusting, Yukari curled up in the large, squishy chair that she had discovered on her first exploration of the library. Neatly folding the cloth she had been using to dust, Yukari pulled a plastic bag out of her pocket and tucked the used cloth inside, then she stuck the bag back into her pocket and slumped into the chair.

With lunch already over and dinner not for a few hours yet, Yukari found herself with nothing else to do. Of course, there was always the option of going back to her and Sho's room and napping until Shizu called her to help with making dinner, but Yukari wasn't tired enough or bored enough to do something like that.

She wasn't in the mood to read, at least not any of the books that were in Prof. Odagiri's personal library, so there went that idea. Rising from her seat, Yukari turned and left the library. Maybe she could ask Shizu for some knitting lessons; it would be something to do, at least. Maybe she could make herself a scarf, or a blanket for when it got cold.

When she had made it to Shizu's room, Yukari raised her hand and knocked three times on the other girl's door and waited to be acknowledged. Or not. The door opened, and Yukari found herself staring at Shizu.

"Oh, hi Yukari. What are you doing here? It's not time for us to start dinner yet."

"Um, Shizu, I was wondering if you would teach me how to knit," Yukari said, paying close attention to the expression on the longhaired girl's face.

"Of course!" Shizu exclaimed, grabbing Yukari's left hand and pulling her into her room. "I think I have a spare set of knitting needles that you can use, and I know I have enough yarn to at least get you started on something."

"Thanks, Shizu."

"Of course, Yukari," Shizu said, letting go of the other girl's hand as she walked over to her chest of drawers and started rifling through it. "It's really no problem at all. I can see that you're genuinely interested in learning this, so that will make it more easy to teach you."

"Oh," Yukari said, sitting on a cushion facing Shizu. "I didn't think about that."

"It's not a problem, really," Shizu said, smiling as she handed a pair of needles and some thread. "First, you need to learn how to start."

"Okay."

"Now, watch what I do," Shizu said.

"All right," Yukari said, carefully watching Shizu's hands as she worked.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Mizuki was just starting to get hungry, when she heard Tetsuro calling her. Dinner was just about to be ready, from what Tetsuro had said. Setting down the manga she'd been reading, Mizuki hurried down the hallway and to the dining room. The smell of fresh, warm food made her mouth water, and when she sat down at the table Mizuki smiled at Shizu and Yukari.

"Thank you for making this wonderful meal, you two," Mizuki said, picking up her chopsticks and starting to eat.

"You're very welcome, Mizuki," Shizu said. "Yukari did an excellent job on her part, too."

"Yes. Thanks, Yukari," Tetsuro said, raising his glass to toast the both of them. "Thank you both."

"You're welcome," Yukari said, ducking her head slightly in embarrassed pleasure. "It was really nothing. I got to practice a lot at home, after all."

"Yeah, but I did too, and even I'm not quite this good," Sho said, smiling at his counterpart.

"Thank you, Sho," Yukari said, blushing slightly from all the praise.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, or at least as close to such as was possible under the circumstances. Once they were finished, Shizu, Yukari, Mizuki and Sho shooed the others out of the kitchen so they could wash the dishes. Once the four of them were done and had put up the last of the dishes, they left the kitchen and went their separate ways.

Shizu and Yukari returned to the former's room to continue the latter's knitting lessons, and Sho and Mizuki left to take a walk around the garden. The rest of the mansion's occupants returned to their respective rooms.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Outside the mansion, concealed from both the occupants and any... unwanted visitors, a large humanoid form made its way away from the mansion. This new apparition was tall, easily six feet if they were an inch, and covered from head-to-toe in a long, dark coat. Nearly waist-length pale blonde hair, tied into a tight braid, was just visible tucked into the collar of the jacket.

The people that were staying in that house, if something of this rather impressive size could truly be called a house, were completely unaware of the fact that those pathetic Zoanoids were not the only ones who had taken an interest in them. Though, if that Lost Unit found out about his new associates'... visitors, it was likely to become rather troublesome.

They would most likely need to be more cautious in how they approached the situation. Their trump card would be of no use to them if they were dead.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

The day was just coming to a close and Yukari, Sho and Mizuki had all gathered together to watch the sunset from the large bay window on the second story.

"I can't believe that it's been almost three months since we all met," Mizuki said, staring at Sho and Yukari with a fair amount of astonishment. "It just doesn't seem possible."

"Oh, right," Yukari said, having been absorbed in watching the play of colored light in the clouds. "Tomorrow makes it official, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Sho said absently, staring out at the blazing light of the setting sun. "Wow, I guess it really does. I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this situation to last so long," Sho said, scratching the back of his head the way he sometimes did when he was feeling awkward about something. "I just thought you would disappear, or I would disappear. Or something like that."

"I guess not," Yukari said. "I just wonder how this is all even possible. Us being together, you know?"

"I know," Sho said, leaning back in his chair. "And sometimes I wonder... nevermind."

"What is it, Sho?" Mizuki asked, sitting up and leaning closer to her childhood friend. The male version, at least.

"I wonder what would have happened if you and Akane had gotten here sooner. It's just, I wonder if that would have changed... things. Maybe stopped them from happening," this last part was nearly a whisper, but just loud enough that Yukari and Mizuki could hear it being said.

"Sometimes, I wonder about that too," Yukari admitted, sharing a commiserating glance with Sho.

There was really nothing to be said after that.


	7. Devil's Ark Revelation

**Devil's Ark Revelation**

It had been three months; three months of waiting, of preparation, of research, of working in shifts with Hikari Mirabilis, but now the Ark had been completed at last. It was gratifying to know that his counterpart in the alternate universe that Hikari had originated from had been just as diligent in the female Murakami's mental reconditioning as he himself had been with the male Murakami. Hikari was equally as dedicated to the success of the Ark project and the triumph of Chronos as Imakarum. Lacking any real duties of her own at the time, Hikari had taken to assisting Dr. Balkus with his research.

He was still not any closer to finding out just why or how female doubles of Imakarum, Guyver I and Guyver III had appeared when it was very obvious that none of them belonged there. It was an aggravating situation for Dr. Balkus, the fact that he did not know just how these doubles had come to exist in the same place and time as their originals. Still, having Hikari to assist with the Ark project was very useful.

Now, with all of the Lords of Chronos - and one Lady of Chronos - gathering at the top of the pyramid-shaped Dead Sea Plant main building, was not the time to consider things besides how to best infuse the Ark with the energy it would need to take its intended place in orbit. Lord Alkanphel would likely know how to do this, but he and Imakarum had not arrived as yet; only eleven of the thirteen Zoalords stood atop the south-western platform of the Dead Sea Plant's main building.

"What is the status?"

"We are at seventy percent, we will at least be able to run some tests."

"They're coming," Hikari said, smiling calmly as she looked out at the horizon. "They're going to be here soon. I should go, he wants me to meet with him."

Inclining her head slightly to him, a gesture of respect that Dr. Balkus had become quite familiar with, Hikari flew off into the sky.

"Now where does that woman think she's going?" Luggnagg de Krumeggnik asked. "For that matter, where is that that counterpart of hers?"

"He didn't come to meet me as I had been expecting," Fried'rich van Purg'stall stated. "Perhaps he is with Lord Alkanphel. Hikari seems to be certain that they will be arriving soon."

When the three figures emerged from the bulding, Lord Alkanphel in the lead with the two, nearly identical forms of Imakarum and Hikari Mirabilis striding along behind him as an honor guard. The remaining ten Zoalords bowed to their master as he stepped forward into the front of their group.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

With Masaki and Sayuri keeping pace behind him as he walked, Alkanphel walked into the center of the group of his Zoalords as they bowed to him. As he made his way to the forefront of the group, Alkanphel smiled. Soon his Ark would be complete, and it would take its place among the stars. Then he would be able to find the Advents themselves and demand an explanation for their treatment of him.

He _would_ have his answers.

"We begin now! Krumeggnik!"

Alkanphel, after hearing Luggnagg's acknowledgement, could literally feel the energy radiating from the Zoacrystal of his Zoalord of Wind. The slight answering rumble from under the water let the Supreme Zoalord know that his Ark had accepted the energy that was being offered.

"Kablarl!" Alkanphel called, and again he felt the energy spike and his Ark rumbling in response. "Caerleon! Jarvil! Waferdanos!"

_-Masaki, Sayuri, which one of you would like to take the duty of supplying energy to part of the Ark?-_

"Galenos! Li Yentsui!"

_-If Imakarum wishes to take that task on himself, then I will leave him to do it.-_

"Purg'stall!"

_-Sayuri has made her preference clear, Masaki,- _Alkanphel said, despite the fact that his only female child had not exactly done so. _-What is yours?-_ "Shin! Balkus!"

_-I will abide by your decision, my lord Alkanphel.-_

Resisting the urge to smile - his last children were so very loyal - Alkanphel turned his attention back to the Ark. His Ark. "Imakarum!"

The thrumming of the Zoacrystals as they resonated with energy, and the answering rumble from the Ark was very satisfying, letting Alkanphel know that the energy they were infusing into the Ark was being accepted. Hamilcal had done very fine work indeed.

"And now it comes to me. Alkanphel!"

The resonance was even more powerful now that the Supreme Zoalord himself was participating in the infusion process, and Alkanphel was starting to see flickering lights in the water. That, combined with the increased amount of rumbling that he could hear coming from under the water, as well as the ripples he could see spreading across the water, let Alkanphel know that his plans for the Ark were one step closer to fruition.

The once-ripples on the surface of the Dead Sea had become large waves, and the rumbling had become much louder by this time. Alkanphel knew that his Ark, imbued with the energies of his Zoalords, was almost prepared to rise above the waves. When his spaceship burst triumphantly out from under the waters of the Dead Sea, Alkanphel grinned proudly.

"And now behold, this great life! My Ark!"

_-It is beautiful, my lord Alkanphel.-_

_-Thank you, Sayuri.-_

As his Ark rose farther above the waters, Alkanphel felt the thrumming from the Zoacrystals of his Zoalords - twelve of them, at least - grow stronger as the Ark shed the last of its watery coating and powered its way into the sky. Even then, his twelve Zoalords continued to feed their energy into the Ark until it had the needed reserves to achieve orbit, where it would then sustain itself on solar energy.

Alkanphel was satisfied.

"I think we're being watched, my Lord," Masaki said respectfully, looking over his right shoulder.

"Yes," Sayuri concurred. "I sensed them as well. Would you like us to dispose of them, Lord Alkanphel?"

"No, let them be," Alkanphel said, smiling calmly. "For now, they are of very little consequence to us. Far greater things are now at hand."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Shit. That this has to be the size of a small island, at least. And if that's a battleship... Shit._ "We're going to have to inform the bosses about this," Nathan Prescott, field commander for one of the larger Zeus Thunderbolt Tac-Ops groups, said grimly.

"That's for damn sure," Jacob Haller, the closest thing that the Thunderbolts had to a grizzled veteran, grumbled. "They'd definitely want to know about that... flying continent."

"Well, let's get back to the base and then we can brief them on what we saw here," John Tyler said, turning away from the still swiftly rising Ark.

Above their heads, the ship continued to rise into the sky. Eventually, it disappeared from human sight entirely.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Breakfast had proceeded as normal in the mansion that they all shared, with Yukari and Shizu setting out the food then Sho and Mizuki offering to help them wash the dishes once the food was all gone. After the dishes had all been washed, dried and put away, the majority of the mansion's occupants had gathered in the main room to relax for a while.

"Hey, guys!" Natsuki called cheerfully. "The paper was just delivered. I know you guys can't go out and find these kinds of things out for yourselves, like you'd probably want to do, but at least we can keep ourselves informed about what Chronos has been doing late... What?!"

"What's wrong, Natsuki?" Tetsuro asked, as all of the people in the room turned to look at the girl holding the newspaper.

"You guys, Chronos just unveiled something... really big. I think you should all come and see this."

Since they knew that Natsuki wasn't one to overreact, not to something so serious as what Chronos was trying to do. That was why all of the people in the living room were gathered around the chair where Natsuki was sitting.

_+Well, it seems like we might have a more difficult time getting to the Ark than I had first anticipated,+_ Akane said.

_+With the Gigantics, however, it might be possible for us to board the Ark and take control of it. We would be required to deal with the Zoanoids in place on the Ark, but that would most likely be substantially less difficult than invading Chronos' Dead Sea Plant and attempting to take the vessel by force.+_

_+Perhaps a great deal easier. Look at this,+_ Akane pointed to a passage in the article that their companions hadn't come to yet. _+It seems that Chronos hasn't even selected a crew for the Ark yet. And, given the fact that they are drawing from a pool of civilian volunteers, there would be very little chance that any of them would have the necessary combat experience to repel an attack by two Gigantics.+_

_+Yes, I think you're right.+_

"What I'd like to know is why Chronos went to all the trouble of constructing this huge Ark of theirs in the first place," Tetsuro said, continuing the conversation that had gone on even as Agito and Akane had been discussing their own strategy. "They can't really be telling the truth about humanity's future being among the stars."

"Think about it, Segawa," Agito said. "They are most definitely not going to be carrying any unprocessed humans with them, so who do suppose will be leaving on board the Ark?"

He waited for an answer, but all he heard were the confused noises of people attempting to think and all he saw were expressions of incomprehension.

"The twelve Zoalords, or thirteen as things stand now, would be the ones in command of the Ark," Akane said, when no one else seemed to be able to figure that out. "They would also be bringing along an army of Zoanoids, who would of course be genetically-engineered to be loyal to them alone. It seems quite obvious to me that this Ark is intended to be a warship."

_+And that will make it all the more useful to us, once we have control of it,+_ Agito said.

_+Indeed it will.+_

"But what would they be fighting against in outer space? Who would be out there that Chronos considers its enemies?"

"I'm not entirely certain," Akane said, pausing to collect her thoughts. "This is only a hypothesis, but Chronos could be planning to find the Advents that left this planet millions of years ago. For what reasons they would want to attempt something like that, I don't think any of us would be able to understand."

"They want to find the Advents?" Tetsuro asked, looking at the still-confused expressions on the faces of his friends and fellow refugee rebels.

"As I said, it was only a hypothesis."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The scent of warm, tropical air was one that Hikari would have enjoyed a great deal more under other circumstances. As it was now, she was far more concerned with the welfare of her Lord than with taking note of something as mundane as her surroundings. No matter how tranquil or beautiful they were to her senses.

Imakarum was with her, and between the two of them they supported the frail, failing form of their beloved Lord Alkanphel. There was obviously something wrong with him, something that he did not want the other Zoalords to know about, else they would not have been standing alone at the summit of this lonely mountain in the shadow of an empty temple. The echoes of the stone made it very clear that there were no residents aside from plantlife inside the temple that they stood in front of.

"Not even Fried'rich or Shin know anything about this island. Only Hamilcal and I have ever set foot on this secret island of mine. Until now."

Imakarum's hold on Lord Alkanphel's waist was slackening, and after she felt a quick tug on her own arm, Hikari loosed her grip as well. Lord Alkanphel slowly pulled away from the warm comfort of their arms, moving forward to stand on his own. Still close enough to them to be supported if he faltered, but far enough that he showed some independence.

"I would like to thank you, Masaki, Sayuri, for coming here with me."

"Of course, my Lord," Imakarum said.

"We could do no less for you, Lord Alkanphel," Hikari added.

"Of course," Lord Alkanphel said, sounding wistful as he continued to stare out at the vast expanse of jungle surrounding his temple.

And then, without a single warning sign, Lord Alkanphel collapsed. Both of them rushed forward, but it was Imakarum that kept their Lord from falling to the hard stone floor of the temple. All that Hikari was left to do was to stroke Lord Alkanphel's pure white hair and murmur soothing words into his pointed ear.

"I will need to rest again soon," Lord Alkanphel said, gently brushing Hikari's fingers with his own and then closing his hand around hers. "My hibernation period is very near."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As Imakarum lifted Lord Alkanphel into his arms, he watched as Hikari settled into step just beside him. She really had no other choice; Lord Alkanphel's right hand was still firmly clasped around her left, and even if she'd been able to free herself, Hikari would not have left his side. He knew his counterpart as well as he knew his own mind; she was loyal without question.

"The last time I was indisposed this way, Guyot rebelled," Imakarum watched as Lord Alkanphel enfolded Hikari's left hand between both of his own, and was momentarily grateful that the hallway and the staircase they were all approaching was wide enough for both of them to walk abreast. "I don't know what could happen this time. Deal with the situation, Masaki. Let Sayuri help you; obtain the unit-G at any cost. Do it quickly, before my hibernation becomes permanent."

"Of course, Lord Alkanphel," Hikari said, bowing her head slightly in respect and submission. "We will do exactly as you order."

"Good. That's why you both were recreated to be true Zoalords; devoted to me and me alone. My faithful servants." _-Beloved son and daughter.-_

Imakarum found that he had to smile at the obvious warmth and affection in Lord Alkanphel's statement, and beside him he saw that Hikari was doing so as well. Right up until she teleported away. About to demand just where the woman thought she was going, Imakarum watched as she returned.

There was a decently sized bundle of cloth in her arms, and for a moment Imakarum wondered what Hikari was thinking of doing. Then she began to spread the cloth over Lord Alkanphel's stone bed, and Imakarum realized that the cloth was in actuality a blanket. A very soft blanket, from the look of the fabric, and Imakarum found himself smiling once more as she gently laid it out over Lord Alkanphel's stone bed.

Lady Hikari could really be quite... maternal at times.

"You can rely on us, Lord Alkanphel," Imakarum stated, even as Hikari placed a gentle kiss on Lord Alkanphel's brow.

"Rest well," Hikari said, rising from her crouch to stand beside him once again. "We _will_ find a way to acquire a Guyver unit for you."

Turning away from the sleeping form of Lord Alkanphel, Imakarum proceeded Hikari out of the temple. The sharp clack of the stone doors as they closed allowed Imakarum to put Lord Alkanphel's condition out of the forefront of his mind, though he would never and could never forget his Lord's condition.

_-So, what would you suggest that we do to obtain the Guyver unit, my Lord? And who would you suggest we take it from?-_

_-Yukari seems to be the obvious candidate, given the fact that she still seems to harbor some attachment to you, my Lady. Still, Sho could be useful as well.-_

_-What are we going to do about the two Makishimas, my Lord?-_

_-We are going to kill them, of course.-_

_-I know that, of course. But those two are very capable in battle. It might be somewhat difficult for us to overcome them, my Lord.-_

_-Yes, they are both very skilled,-_ Imakarum considered the matter of the two Third Guyvers. _-We will simply have to find a way to deal with them, in whatever form they appear before us, my Lady.-_

_-We will indeed.-_


	8. Duel of Powers

**Duel of Powers**

Panting, his leg muscles starting to burn, Toshiaki kept running. He knew there was someone following him; someone extremely dangerous if the craters left in the walls from the newcomer's beam weapon were anything to go by. Cornering with near-desperate speed, Toshiaki found himself facing the worst possible thing that he could have under his circumstances. Toshiaki saw that the alley that he'd ran into, hoping for a quick escape from his pursuer, dead-ended in a blank wall.

_No, I can't die like this. I still haven't found Sho and the others; I still haven't found a way to make Chronos pay for what they did to Prof. Odagiri and my friends. I can't die!_ Leaping to the right to avoid a shot that would have taken his head off, Toshiaki turned to confront his tormentor.

"What do you want with me?!" he demanded, panting from his exertion.

"I want to know why you were following me," The man, obviously a Zoanoid given the way he'd been firing those energy beams, sneered. "Ever since those bastard Zoalords arrived, I've been hunting down dumb damn spies like you practically every day."

"I'm- I'm not a spy," Toshiaki said, stuttering slightly.

Something about this guy gave him the creeps; it wasn't just the dark glasses or the large facial scar, either. Something about him was just… wrong.

"Hmph. Do you know what I do to spies?" The scarred man grinned at him in a particularly unnerving way. "I _eat_ them."

"Wait!" Toshiaki shouted, backing away from the now-obviously-insane Zoanoid. "I already told you I wasn't a spy! I just wanted to ask you a favor!"

All the while, his mind reeled from the implications of what the Zoanoid had just admitted himself to be. A cannibalistic Zoanoid? Was this one of Balkus' creations? Made for the express purpose of hunting and killing any Lost Units that escaped from Chronos' control maybe? But then, why would he have referred to the Zoalords as bastards?

"Oh, is that right?" The Zoanoid's right hand shot out, clamping itself firmly around Toshiaki's throat. "Then tell me, what's that favor you wanted?"

"Don't! I already told you that-" but, as Toshiaki started to feel his throat being peeled open, his words dissolved into a choked, gurgling scream.

He could feel himself involuntarily transforming into his Zoanoid form, and even as Bio Freezer, he was still helpless in the grip of Balkus' cannibal Zoanoid.

"And here's your true form!" The scarred Zoanoid cackled gleefully. "It's kind of pathetic, but it's really you!"

As Toshiaki's eyes started to roll back into his head, in what was probably his death throes, Toshiaki noticed that the expression on the scarred Zoanoid's face was changing from sadistically amused to slightly confused. And then he let go of Toshiaki's throat. Toshiaki fell to the ground, panting, sweating and even drooling from the painful ordeal he'd just been through.

"How the hell can you be a Lost Unit too?!"

"I made myself that way," Toshiaki said, gagging slightly from the blood still in his throat. "And I was following you because you were staying close to the people that I want to make contact with. Namely Sho Fukamachi and his friends. We worked with each other before X-Day, in Relics Point."

"All right, I'll bite," the scarred Lost Unit said, helping Toshiaki back to his feet. "Still, are you sure it's really Sho you want to talk to? Yukari's a lot cuter than him; and I hear she's available."

"What?! I would never think of Yukari like that! Wait…" Toshiaki shook his head, trying to reconcile two distinctly different mental images.

On the one hand, there was Sho Fukamachi; Guyver I. The first person he'd met with the power to take on Chronos and win on a long-term basis. Murakami had been a great person but he'd - _she'd?_ - been limited by his - _her?_ - flawed and incomplete processing. That had limited his - _her?_ - effective fighting time to about twenty minutes. Twenty-five if he - _she?_ - pushed himself - _herself?_ - to the absolute limit. _Wait, who am I thinking about?_

"Getting kind of confused? Feeling like your head's about to explode? Maybe wanting to rip open your own brain?" the scarred Lost Unit grinned at him again.

"How did you know I was feeling that way?"

"I wasn't talking about _you_. What do I call you, anyway? Since we're on the subject of you."

"My name is Hayami Toshiaki, and yours?"

"Toshiaki, eh? And what do you suppose I call that battleform of yours?"

"That's Bio Freezer. And you still haven't told me your name yet."

"You can call me Aptom."

"Just Aptom?"

"Just Aptom. It's not like I have another name to give you. Well, let's go find those friends of yours."

"All right, let's go."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Far away from where the two Lost Units were heading off to meet their comrades, deep in the underground levels of Cloud Gate, two other Zoaforms were having a meeting of their own. Bathed in the pale, almost sickly-looking illumination from the row of processing-tanks in front of them, Hikari and Imakarum Mirabilis oversaw the creation of four very specific Zoanoids. They were all of the same breed; a very dangerous brood of Zoanoids indeed.

They were the next generation of Guyver-killer, and they were also possessed of another, hidden asset.

The only one who did not seem particularly pleased with the thought of these new Zoanoids – these enhanced Guyver-killers – was the newly arrived Fried'rich van Purg'stall.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Hikari purred, caressing the cool Plexiglas of the processing-tank. "They were a gift from Lord Hamilcal," Hikari flashed white teeth in a fierce grin.

"Indeed," Imakarum said, with the exact same amount of reverent fascination in his voice as Hikari. "He worked on them while he was also reprocessing Zektor into a creature capable of destroying Aptom. These four will make excellent hunting dogs."

"Yes," Hikari said, smiling again. "They will indeed."

"As you will, then," Fried'rich said calmly, though he was still inwardly leery of both iterations of Imakarum Mirabilis. _If these creatures of yours are hunting dogs; then what do you think that that makes you? Vicious creatures._

Turning for a moment to watch as Lord Fried'rich left, Hikari pondered for a few seconds on her fellow Zoalord's demeanor. "I don't think that Lord Fried'rich quite approves of us, my Lord."

"He seems to approve of our results, if not the methods themselves, which seems to be his normal way of operating," Imakarum said, looking briefly in the direction that Lord Fried'rich van Purg'stall had retreated in before turning his full attention back to the Enzyme IIIs growing in the processing-tanks. "Anyway, it's not much of a concern to us, my Lady. We simply need to think about how we will use these new Enzymes of ours to kill Sho Fukamachi and the rest of his idiot cohorts."

"Yes," Hikari said, turning back to look at the four Enzyme IIIs resting in their amniotic baths. "And to bring my little Yukari-chan back here, where she belongs. Though I don't suppose these Guyver-killers of ours will be ready for quite some time, my Lord."

"Indeed. I would say they need at least forty-five more minutes before they would be ready to take flight and hunt down the Guyvers with us, my Lady."

"While we wait, would you find fault if I went up to the cafeteria? I find myself craving something sweet."

"Of course not," Imakarum said, coming up to stand beside Hikari. "I think I will even accompany you. I also find that I have a craving for sweets as well. I'll even treat you to a coffee, with three creams and two sugars, my Lady."

Smiling as Imakarum wrapped his right arm around her waist, Hikari leaned into his embrace. "Why thank you, my Lord."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Curled up in one of the window-seats, Yukari's head resting against the left side of his chest, Sho just leaned against the glass and watched the world go by. He knew that Tetsuro and Mizuki were talking about them, he could even make a good guess as to what the current topic of their conversation was from the tone of their voices. They were worried; worried about him and Yukari.

They had been worried about them ever since two weeks ago; that was when everything had really started to sink in for them. After all, there was only so much to do in this house - especially since they couldn't go outside for fear of alerting the Zoanoids to their whereabouts - and there was only so long that they could keep from thinking about things with nothing else to distract them. Sho knew that even Yukari's knitting lessons with Shizu, which were responsible for the colorful scarf that she was wearing, couldn't distract her from what had happened to Ms. Murakami anymore.

They'd tried to keep the others from noticing their state, if only to keep them from worrying about something they couldn't do anything about, but even that hadn't worked after the first week and a half. It was hard to hide something from people that spent every hour of the day with you. Even harder when they were your friends and had known you for almost all of your life.

Sho wasn't quite sure if Akane and Agito knew how they felt, but he really would have been surprised if they had. Those two were very observant, after all.

Tugging absently at Yukari's long scarf, Sho leaned his head against the glass again and tried not to think. It sounded like Tetsuro had just left.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_+This is going to provide some problems for us, Agito,+_ Akane said, stretching out her legs as she reposed next to him. _+I had thought that those two would manage to realize that there is nothing to be done for their former friends. I suppose I underestimated their thickheaded sentimentallity.+_

_+We both did,+_ Agito concurred, as outside the open door Tetsuro walked by. _+And, even though they were the ones who made their respective Gigantics in the first place, both of them have proved consistently unable to use the armor to its full capacity.+_

_+Yes. The Gigantics were created to have the power to overcome Zoalords, but all of that divine power is utterly worthless in the hands of those two. They couldn't even manage to kill one of our opponents when we all fought together. All they could think of was to escape.+_

_+That is usually the case with them,+_ Agito said, chuckling humorlessly. _+The Gigantics would be put to much better use if we possessed them.+_

_+Yes, so they would.+_

As Shizu passed by the door, carrying a tray of coffee for Natsuki, herself, and Tetsuro, she looked into the room where Master Agito and Mistress Akane were staying. They seemed to be rather aggravated about something; worried, but not wanting to invade their privacy, Shizu left without a word.

When she arrived in the main entrance hall, Shizu set down the tray just as she heard two sharp knocks on the door.

"Ah, Natsuki's home!" Mizuki said happily, heading quickly over to the door so she could open it.

It was indeed Natsuki Taga, the one who had been doing their shopping ever since those Zoanoids had been spotted looking for Yukari in the city. But, when Mizuki greeted Natsuki at the door, she paused, and then she asked what was wrong.

Shizu also came forward, wondering if she could do anything to help. Natsuki had done so much for them; for her and Master Agito and Mistress Akane and the others, that Shizu would have felt remiss in her duty if she hadn't done all that she could to help. When Natsuki said that there was someone with her, Shizu wondered who it could be. She had known Natsuki well enough to know that the other would have screamed and called for help if she had been accosted by a Zoanoid so close to their safehouse. Master and Mistress would have been very quick to defend her if that was the case.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Standing next to the girl who had taken his prey in and was keeping them safe from the Zoanoids who had been hunting them, at least when those Zoanoids weren't being hunted down by _him_, Aptom just barely resisted the urge to make a smartass remark. He found that he usually looked scarier when he didn't say anything at all; so that was what he did. From the expressions on the faces of the two girls in the room, and the one on the fat guy that both of his would-be opponents liked to hang out with, he was doing a really good job of it.

When his prey came into the room, along with those two other Guyvers he didn't really care much about, Aptom decided that he should really start paying attention to what the girl who'd led him here was saying. Things would probably start happening again once they were introduced formally to his erstwhile companion.

"Won't you come in?" the fat kid – Tetsuro, Aptom remembered – offered shakily. "I don't think we should be leaving the door open like this."

"I'm not really the one who came here to see you," Aptom explained, just to see the looks of confusion on their faces. "I just tagged along. There's another guy who wanted to meet you; someone who told me he knows you."

"Okay, so you were right," Toshiaki said, as he stepped out from behind Aptom and got his first clear look at the people in the house.

"I usually am," Aptom said, grinning.

"Mr. Hayami? Is it really you?" one of the girls – Mizuki; Aptom's memory of her was even clearer than the one he had of Tetsuro – asked, looking completely shocked. "But- but it _can't_ be!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Sitting on top of a nearby building, crouched down low so he'd present the absolute minimum shadow, a Rocies observed the goings on. _So that's why none of us has been able to track down that little Guyver babe and drag her in. She's been hiding out in this out of the way place. Hmm; I might as well get a closer look._

Suiting actions to thoughts, Rocies leapt closer to the building where he now knew that little Yukari Fukamachi was staying. _This might be a little more dangerous with Aptom in the picture, since he can sense when Zoanoids are near. But my vital signs are really close to human-standard. I should be able to slip by right under his radar._

Adjusting his eyes until he could see in through the windows, almost as if he himself was standing right outside, Rocies saw something that made the risk of the trip he'd taken to get close enough to spy in through the windows of the house well worth it. _Score! Sho Fukamachi, Agito Makishima, and that bitchy counterpart of his, all in one place!_ Crouching until only his eyes and ears stuck out above the rim of the rooftop, Rocies concentrated on the presence he could still feel in the back of his mind.

_Your Excellency, I found them!_

_-All of them?-_

_Yes, Excellency. All four of the Guyvers, all of their allies, and even that Lost Unit that you were hunting._

_-So, even Aptom is with them. Good work, Rocies. You can expect an easier assignment when you return to Cloud Gate.-_

_Thank you, Excellency,_ Rocies said, keeping his eyes trained on the people in the house in front of him. _Oh, and could you give a message to Her Ladyship for me?_

_-What message would that be?-_

_Tell her that I hope it goes well for her, and that she gets what she wants out of it._

_-Consider that message delivered. Now, I want you to continue observing them.-_

_Yes, Excellency._

_-Good.-_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Sitting back in the seat inside the Psycho Wave Amplifier, Imakarum Mirabilis smiled with sheer pleasure. It would be very easy to deal with all of Chronos' most dangerous enemies when they had gathered themselves together so nicely.

_-Hikari; Rocies has found our prey for us. And he also wishes you all luck with your endeavor.-_

_-Perfect,- Hikari responded, obviously smiling. -Shall I call our lovely pets out of hiding?-_

_-Of course, my Lady. Call them; and we'll go out and bring Yukari home with us. And we shall kill every one of those who oppose our master's glorious cause!-_

_-Indeed we shall, my Lord.-_

As he teleported into the basement of Cloud Gate, Imakarum wondered briefly what he would see when he arrived there. The Enzyme IIIs were feral creatures; something about the process that Balkus submitted them to destroyed the higher functioning of their minds, reducing them to little more than beasts. Still, Hikari was a Zoalord like him; she would be able to handle four mere Zoanoids. Even if they were Guyver-killers.

The four Zoanoids, all in their human forms, were gathered around Hikari. Their behavior toward her was indeed somewhat animalistic, since one of them was smelling her hair, two of them were rubbing their heads against her stomach, and the other one was apparently trying to take a bite out of her shoulder armor. Reaching out with his telepathic powers, and feeling Hikari do the same, Imakarum subdued the Enzyme IIIs and ordered them to form a line behind himself and Hikari.

They did, after a cursory amount of prodding from his and Hikari's telepathic powers. Once they had stopped trying to sniff at everything in the room, Imakarum gave them the order to transform. He and Hikari did that very same thing, and the six of them stood revealed for what they truly were.

_-And now, my Lady, the hunt begins.-_

_-Indeed it does, my Lord. And it will be most enjoyable.-_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

They had been working, far beneath the sands of the Arizona desert, Dr. Balkus and his entire research staff. Working to create new and better Zoanoid models, and working on the mystery of where the doubles had come from and how they had appeared. And, just perhaps, how to find a way of sending the two Guyvers back while leaving the Zoalord who had come with them in this place.

However, for the moment Dr. Balkus himself had other things on his mind.

"So, both Imakarum and his female counterpart have left Cloud Gate?"

"Yes," Purg'stall said, his image on the screen flickering slightly. "Apparently, the Guyvers have gone to ground somewhere in the city and they have located them now. The two of them left with the Enzyme IIIs without a word."

"Good," Dr. Balkus said. "Do not interfere for any reason. If they have indeed left to hunt down the Guyvers, then they are acting on the express wishes of Lord Alkanphel. All of the actions that those two take are motivated by their concern for the greater good of Lord Alkanphel and Chronos as a whole."

"Of course," Purg'stall nodded. "I will keep that in mind."

_Settle this; both of you,_ Dr. Balkus ordered silently, knowing even as he did so that neither version of Imakarum would need any further prodding to accomplish their assigned mission. _Destroy the Guyvers, as our lord Alkanphel wishes. Fulfill your mission._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Back in the city of Tokyo, on the fringes of the Shinjuku district, the four Guyvers and their allies had just finished explaining the situation to their long-absent friend. Including, to the best of their knowledge, why there were now four Guyvers when there had originally been only two.

"Wow. I would have never imagined that something like this was even possible; but since the proof is standing right in front of me, I guess I really have to believe."

"That's pretty much what we feel, Mr. Hayami," Tetsuro said. "It's really good to see you again, though. With everything that's been going on lately, we've been worried."

"I could say the exact same thing about you," Toshiaki said. "I'm glad that you've managed to find reinforcements. Um, whichever 'you' did the finding, that is," Toshiaki said, the implications of the memories that he had in his own mind was starting to give him a headache; but it did help to keep his attention off of the things that he didn't want to think about. Things that he was going to have to tell his friends about very soon.

"Mr. Hayami?" Mizuki asked. "You looked so sad for a minute; what's wrong?"

Sooner than later, it seemed. "While it's good to see you all again, saying hello wasn't really the reason that I came," before he could lose his nerve, or anyone else could interrupt, Toshiaki pressed on. "Why I came here really isn't something that I like to think about for too long; but I suppose I should tell you my reasons. Especially after Torii and the others all died to give me the chance to escape."

"You mean that all of the other scientists we met are…" Sho stepped forward to wrap his arms around Yukari as she choked on a sob, unable to finish her intended sentence.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Yukari, but they are," Toshiaki said, feeling like he wanted to do something to ease Yukari's mind – and Sho's too, now that he thought about it – but knowing that he couldn't. "I'm sure you all know that all Chronos scientists are infected with a virus to keep them from escaping the company or rebelling outright." _Well, if they didn't know already, they know now,_ Toshiaki mused. "The virus will consume and destroy the brain unless specifically modified antibodies are injected. It's almost like a form of brain cancer. The only way to permanently destroy the virus is to submit to processing, but that has its own set of very large drawbacks; as I'm sure you're all aware." Toshiaki paused, breathing deeply. "We found a way to get around that, though."

"What way is that?" Tetsuro asked.

Before Toshiaki could say anything, Aptom spoke up. "They all decided to try being Lost Numbers, like me." Crossing the room with a few long strides, Aptom roughly mused Toshiaki's hair. "I never imagined one of my little brothers would be a lab rat."

"Please don't do that again," Toshiaki said.

Shrugging with utmost unconcern, Aptom continued to speak. "We Lost Numbers are single-generation mutations; none of us really has to follow the instructions of the Zoalords we serve under, but most of us do because it's just easier that way. Less hassle, you know? I'm one of the ones who can ignore them completely now, thanks to that old bastard Balkus fiddling around with my genes so much. Still, ol' Freezer here might be able to do that too, since he designed himself to be that way."

"Freezer?" Mizuki asked, confused.

"Bio Freezer," Toshiaki corrected automatically then he elaborated. "That's the name of my Zoanoid form; the one I helped design," he sighed. "All the rest of us that had worked under Dr. Odagiri worked for a very long time, trying to find a way to cure the anti-rebellion virus that we'd been infected with. But the only viable way that we found was to intentionally become Lost Numbers. But the Zoaformation process was never intended to produce Lost Numbers at all; like Aptom said, they're a fluke," Toshiaki squeezed his eyes shut, remembering his friends. "None of the others survived the process. Torii; Fujiwara; Ijuin, they all died. As you can see, though, I survived."

"Most impressive," Akane allowed. "But, _how_ did you survive?"

"By using the data that we gained from all of the failed attempts," Toshiaki admitted lowly.

Aptom, standing next to his "little brother", tensed. He could sense something, it was just on the edge of his perception, but there was no mistaking this feeling. There was a Zoanoid very, very close to their current location. Turning whip-fast, and ignoring Tetsuro's surprised yelp, Aptom fired his hand-beam directly into the Zoanoid's midsection.

Given the way it had nearly managed to evade his senses even when it was so close, the thing had probably been a Rocies.

"Was that a Zoanoid?"

Aptom rolled his eyes at Agito under the cover of his dark glasses. _No, I just felt like randomly blasting a hole in the window of a house I don't even own._

"If that thing found us, then we're not safe here anymore," Tetsuro said, making the first intelligent statement that Aptom had heard since he fired his beam and eliminated the prowling Rocies.

Still, if there had been a Zoalord in communication with that oversized lizard… Aptom's senses screamed with the presence of Zoanoids. Four of them; strong ones, probably Hypers. Hearing Agito talking about how they all needed to get out of there, Aptom decided to tell them just how many problems there were with that plan as of the present moment.

"We're already surrounded," Aptom said. "But then, there are only four of them, which seems kind of stupid to-" Aptom paused, taking in the feeling that there were more Zoanoids than he had previously sensed. A lot more.

They were more familiar to him; Standard Zoanoids. Vamores. A whole lot of Vamores. Too many, in fact, for him to sense all of their locations.

"You, the Guyver twins! Transform and get these people out of here if you want them to live!"

A minute after he'd said that, the entire house went kablooie. The flying wood-shrapnel and burning debris wouldn't have even scratched his fully formed carapace, but that didn't matter since he was covered by the shield from two Gigantic Guyvers. Besides, the debris probably would have hurt his little brother 'Freezer. Both Gigantics were carrying two people, which left one person each that got carried by Guyver III. And left him without a passenger.

Not that he minded; at all.

"Well, I guess that's the end of Prof. Odagiri's mansion."

"Relax, Tetsuro," Toshiaki called over. "That was just the house he stayed in when he was working in the city."

"You mean he has another mansion?"

"Yeah. It's out in the country."

"Less _talking_, more _escaping_," Aptom cut in. "We can discus things like that when we're not in danger of being killed by Hyper Zoanoids."

"Sho he's right, look!" Yukari shouted.

"They can fly?" Sho gasped.

"Apparently so," Akane said. "And, has anyone noticed that these creatures bear a startling resemblance to those Enzyme IIs we all faced?"

"Chronos has designed a new type of Enzyme; one that possesses flight capabilities," Agito mused aloud.

_I always love a good Enzyme,_ Aptom chuckled darkly to himself. _They're so nice and spicy._

_+What are we going to do, Sho? We can't fight off those Enzymes when we're trying to get the others to safety.+_

_+I think that all we can do for now is try to outrun them; and try to find a safe place where we can hide Tetsuro, Mizuki and the others.+_

_+You're right,+_ Yukari said. _+We just have to keep flying. Everything's going to be fine.+_

A lesser person would have probably blamed Yukari for what happened next.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_-Here they come, my Lord.-_

_-Yes, my Lady. And right on time, as well.-_

_-I always enjoy having punctual victims.-_

"Hello, children," Hikari said, baring her pointed canines in a dangerous smile. "Have you been waiting long?"

"It seems that everyone is here," Imakarum purred, chuckling deep in his throat. "Where do you lovely ones think you're going?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd think they were trying to escape from us, my Lord," Hikari said, with the air of someone talking about a thing of no particular consequence.

"They think they can escape?" Imakarum laughed maliciously. "Poor, deluded things. They have no hope. None at all."

Hikari and Imakarum fired, directly at the Gigantic that was carrying Tetsuro and Mizuki. Disoriented because he couldn't raise his shield in time to deflect the blasts and in a fair amount of pain from the beams, Sho inadvertently released his hold on his two friends.

"Tetsuro! Mizuki!"

Only the fact that she was carrying Natsuki and Hayami kept Yukari from diving to try and catch the falling forms of her and Sho's closest childhood friends. Sho was the one who dove to catch them, but Yukari opted to cover his back, just in case the two Zoalords who had attacked were thinking to attack again. Landing beside Sho when he'd gotten their friends safely, though not comfortably, back on the ground, Yukari raised her shield.

"How are they?" she asked, not daring to move any closer for fear of disrupting the Gigantic's forcefield.

"I think they'll be all right," Sho said, looking quickly from Tetsuro to Mizuki and then back again. "It looks like they both got a little stunned."

"Well now, that _is_ a load off my mind," Hikari said, laughing wickedly. "After all, we wouldn't want any of our little pawns to miss the rest of the game, now would we?"

"I should say we wouldn't, my Lady," Imakarum laughed. "Still, I really can't believe how many of them survived. Look, it's Shizu and Mr. Onuma. And little Mizuki, of course. And her big brother Tetsuro. And some other girl I've never seen before. And even a former Chronos scientist."

"It's almost enough to make one nostalgic," Hikari leaned her cheek against her right hand, then sighed with false sentimentality. "A Mt. Minakami reunion."

"So, where have your fellow scientists gone, Hayami? I know they ran away with you aboard the Relic. So, why haven't they come here to support you in your rebellion?" Imakarum needled.

"Because they're _dead_! They died for the oath we all swore to Prof. Odagiri, you brutal sadist!"

"How very tragic," Hikari drawled, sounding as if she was on the verge of laughter.

"Murakami," Mizuki moaned, hating the way that her and Sho's – and her and Yukari's – old friend was acting. Things should never have turned out this way.

"And now 'old friends', let us begin THE DANCE OF DEATH! Let's get this party started!"

Laughing, Hikari ordered the Enzyme IIIs to close in around their prey.

"Tetsuro!" Sho shouted. "Hayami! Take the others and run!"

"I won't leave you to fight them alone, Sho!"

"He won't be _alone_, dimbulb," Aptom snorted, despite his lack of a nose. "He's got his counterpart with him; and me, of course. You'd just be in the way. You probably don't even know how to use that battleform of yours, so you'd be even more in the way. Just leave those Enzymes to me; you four, and focus on those Zoalords!"

It was proving to be quite difficult for Hikari to hold back her laughter, even as Aptom viciously attacked the four Enzymes that she and Imakarum had brought to this battle. Both she and Imakarum knew what was coming, after all. They knew how futile Aptom's show of force would prove to be.

When Sho shouted a warning to his Lost Number compatriot, just after said Lost Number had attempted to destroy one of their Guyver-killers with a barrage of imitation Gaster-type bio-missiles, Hikari found herself chuckling at his meager efforts. The true power of the third iteration of the Enzyme model was about to be revealed.

"What the _hell_?!"

Laughing at the Lost Number's confusion, Hikari decided to enlighten him. It would be amusing to see how he reacted to them; to knowing that he had been decisively beaten by Chronos at last. "You look so surprised, dear Aptom," she drawled. "You really shouldn't be; these Enzymes have been designed to be more formidable than any Zoanoid you have ever faced before. As you can see, they have the ability to resist your most powerful electrical currents; to absorb the impact of bio-missiles without detonating them; and to regenerate damage from high-intensity lasers in seconds. All of this was designed with you in mind, Aptom. Don't you feel special?" Hikari laughed, then quickly sobered. "There is a price for all that power: these Enzymes will only be able to live for two – maybe three – years from the day they are processed. However, two years is more than enough time to kill you here and now, Aptom!"

"_What_?!" This time it was Sho, and this time Hikari ignored the interruption.

"That's horrible!" Yukari shouted.

Aptom, meanwhile, seemed to be having some more difficulties. She knew - and Imakarum knew - why that was, but she wasn't particularly inclined to explain it. Let that worthless, Zoanoid-eating _mistake_ figure things out for himself.

"As you might have noticed, Aptom, these Enzymes have also been equipped with the same virus and the same anti-bodies that Neo-Zektor himself had," Imakarum said, smirking at the Lost Number. "These Zoanoids will not be food for your hunger," Imakarum laughed. "Not only the Guyver's natural predator, but now yours as well, Aptom!"

"Damn it!" Aptom shouted impotently.

Tetsuro also looked horrified by that development, probably since the only people who could fight against Guyver-killers of this caliber were the ones who had been doing all in their power to avoid the battle in the first place.

_-Just as planned is it not, my Lord?-_

_-Indeed it is, my Lady.-_

"Well now, it looks like you two are the only ones who can save your little friends," Imakarum said, grinning like a death's head at the two Gigantics. "Are you two willing to take us on, or should we just start killing your weakling friends and then move on to you later?"

"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Sho shouted, clenching his left fist and raising it slightly. "Even if I do have to fight against the both of you to keep them safe."

There seemed to be a moment of non-verbal – most likely telepathic – communication between the two Gigantics standing before them.

"We'll fight you, but not here," Yukari said. "And you have to spare Tetsuro and the others."

"Oh, we'll spare who we can," Hikari said dismissively. "However, I hope you understand that if they attack our Enzymes they will in fact be forfeiting their lives. These Zoanoids of ours don't take attacks against themselves particularly well, you know."

"Follow us, then!"

"You want to fight us in the air?" Imakarum wondered, grinning. "Very well then!"

He and Hikari launched themselves skyward, calling on their gravity-manipulation abilities to propel themselves after the twin Gigantics who were their enemies. Gravity Bullets and energy blasts from the two Zoalords shattered the still air, but no attack from either of the Gigantics were fired in retaliation. Either they were trying to lead the two of them farther away from their pitiful friends… or they still hadn't accepted the fact that neither him nor Hikari would ever turn against Lord Alkanphel and betray Chronos' glorious cause merely for the sake of the friendship that had been shared by a dead man and a fool. Or a dead woman and a fool, in Lady Hikari's case.

Though Yukari could prove useful in the long run, after a few select… alterations, of course.

Imakarum laughed. "Is that the best you two can do? Do either of you really think that you can escape being like us simply by flying away?" Imakarum laughed harder. "This isn't a fight, this is a game of tag! One you're both going to lose, of course!"

One of Hikari's Gravity Bullets slammed into Sho's armored back, knocking the Gigantic off-balance. "You're still not focusing, Sho!" Hikari taunted.

"Stop it!" Yukari shouted.

"Why don't you try and make us?" Hikari taunted, laughing.

"That is, unless you've already resigned yourselves to defeat," Imakarum chuckled darkly. "In that case, Yukari, we'll take you back to Chronos with us. And I shall personally rip the Control Medal from the head of your idiotic counterpart!"

Diving forward as Hikari spiraled around to cut off Sho's escape from the rear, Imakarum found his hand stopped by Yukari's arm.

"Stay away from him!"

"And I suppose you're going to stop me, eh little girl?" Grabbing the offending appendage, Imakarum threw the second Gigantic aside like she was nothing. "I think not!"

While Sho was distracted, watching to make sure that Yukari would regain her equilibrium in the air, Imakarum rammed into him. He still managed to raise a defense, such as it was, by grabbing Imakarum's outstretched left hand as it sought out the large target that was the Gigantic Guyver's Control Medal.

"Are you trying to be funny, Sho?" Imakarum laughed. "We both know you're not going to have the will to actually fight me. Not with _his_ voice and _his_ face. You still see me as that fool Murakami, admit it, Sho!" Imakarum laughed; laughed at Guyver I's failure to respond to his words in anything resembling an effective manner, laughed at the pain that Sho must have been in from merely hearing him speak in such a way.

Hearing Hikari dealing with Yukari, Imakarum was just about to turn to watch his counterpart as she dealt with the Guyver that had opposed her Chronos' efforts, when he was distracted by the sensation of increased pressure on his hands and fingers. Could it be that Sho, weak-willed creature that he was, had actually developed the fortitude to challenge him?

When Imakarum found himself being pushed backward by Sho's surprisingly aggressive attack, he found that he had to make a rather quick reevaluation of the situation. It seemed that Sho had indeed decided to try and battle him on the terms he had set; time would tell if he would prove adept in the battle, or even willing to fight it long-term, but if Sho was going to attempt to challenge him, than the Gigantic Guyver was going to have to deal with the consequences. And there would be consequences, indeed.

_-Our Enzyme troops have begun their attack, my Lord.-_

_-Good, my Lady. Keep me posted on their progress. How is your own battle with Yukari proceeding?-_

_-Define 'battle', my Lord. I seem to be playing a game of tag with her now.-_

_-Well, Sho seems to have gotten over his reluctance to fight me, at least for the moment. We will see how long that lasts.-_

_-Indeed. Aptom seems to have found a way to deal with our Enzyme troops.-_

_-Oh? That's going to be a bit problematic for us. How many of them did he manage to kill?-_

_-There is only one left, so three of them.-_

_-One Enzyme III against those three annoyances. Perfect.-_

_-Indeed. Would you like me to keep you posted still?-_

_-No; our Enzymes can deal with those annoying gnats. You just make sure that Yukari will not be able to provide any aid, pathetic as it very well may be, to Sho if he tries to call for her.-_

_-Of course, my Lord. I will make sure that there will be no inconveniences for you.-_

_-I know you will, my Lady. And I thank you.-_

As Sho came back around, apparently trying to ram into him for some odd reason, Imakarum raised his shield and repelled the Gigantic Guyver. He did likewise when the Gigantic fired the Head Beam at him. Imakarum fired his Crystal Laser, but Sho managed to dodge the beam as it burned the air. Imakarum chuckled. _You're pathetically weak, Sho. If you don't start using the full power of your Gigantic against me, than you're never going to be able to beat me. And as long as I stay below you, you won't use the Gigasmasher for fear of hitting your precious friends, and if you won't use the Gigasmasher, then there's nothing you can do that will save your life!_

"Spiral Crusher!"

As the large, cyclone-like energy blast screamed towards Sho, Imakarum fully expected his attack to fatally damage the weakling Guyver. Or, at the very least, damage him enough that Imakarum would be able to finish him off without wasting so much more of his own energy reserves. He was not expecting Sho Fukamachi to be able to evade his attack by passing through the center of it, but that was just what the Gigantic Guyver facing him did.

_-My Lord, you seem rather frustrated. Is there anything that I might do to help?-_

_-Not unless you have managed to subdue Yukari to the point where she wouldn't be able to provide any meaningful aid to Sho, my Lady,-_ Imakarum said, as he fired a barrage of Gravity Bullets at the oncoming Gigantic.

_-I think I have that well in hand, my Lord.-_

_-Then I welcome your help, my Lady,-_ Imakarum said, as he fired off an Incision Wave at Sho.

When even that failed to stop his advance, Imakarum backed up and started to formulate a new strategy. Sho had apparently decided to engage him on equal terms, at least for the moment, and now he needed to deal with Sho on this level rather than treating him like the helpless boy that he had been acting like for most of this battle. When Sho's arm, with its large Vibration Blade fully extended, came scything toward his head, Imakarum froze up for just a moment.

Truly, he had not been expecting that Sho would prove to be so willing to dispatch him, even after he had done so much to goad him into the battle. Perhaps Sho was not so attached to his former incarnation as he had professed to be.

However, when Imakarum saw Sho begin to hesitate, even before Hikari grabbed his wrist and wrenched his arm away from his face then fired a Gravity Bullet directly into his gut, Imakarum laughed at Sho's idiotic sentimentality.

_-You have the most impeccable timing, my Lady.-_

_-I thank you for your compliments, my Lord.-_

"Were you having a change of heart, Sho?" Imakarum mocked. "You little fool!" he laughed. "Even if Lady Hikari had not come along when she had, you would have still wasted the perfect opportunity to kill me!"

_-I think we have wasted enough time playing these childish games, my Lady. It is time we ended this battle decisively.-_

_-I agree with you completely, my Lord.-_

Imakarum could sense it when Hikari started to gather her energy in preparation for unleashing a quick burst that would free her from the confines of her battle armor and jumpsuit, and he was quick to do the same. The burst of energy that ripped the confining armor and specifically engineered cloth off of them was almost perfectly synchronized, and appeared as a bright flash of strobelike light.

Taking advantage of the distraction caused by the light, Imakarum and Hikari dove in to attack. Linking with Hikari, Imakarum found that he could see through her eyes to a limited extent. And when she linked to his own mind in return, it was as if the two of them had become one being. Or, more precisely, a hybrid of their own separate minds.

It was a very useful skill; where one of them attacked, the other would be fully able to cover any blind spots or weak points in their defense. When one of them fired a volley, whether of Gravity Bullets or their varied energy attacks, the other was always there to shield them for the short time that they needed as they recovered. The two Gigantic Guyvers, with their more limited and straightforward telepathy, were completely unable to find a comparable advantage.

It was, therefore, not long before the two Gigantics began to show sighs of severe damage and fatigue. As the mind-linked Zoalords continued to press their advantage, the Gigantics began to fall back before their combined assault. They started trying to protect each other, one trying to take damage that was meant for the other, but once the Zoalords had caught on to that plan, the two of them started to work to drive the two Gigantics apart, or at least to keep them from being able to work together well enough to be able to shield the other.

And as the battle continued, the maneuvers of both Gigantics began to become more sluggish and uncoordinated, their defenses became even easier to predict and counter, and they both showed sighs of extremely serious damage. After only a few more minutes of brutal pounding, both Gigantics disengaged, leaving Yukari and Sho in their battered and exhausted normal Guyver forms. Disengaging their own mental link, Hikari and Imakarum each flew after one of the Guyvers and grabbed them around the neck.

_-That was rather enjoyable, my Lord.-_

_-Yes, my Lady. It seems to be a rather useful technique that we have uncovered.-_

_-Indeed.-_

As the two of them, with their captives still in hand, flew back toward the battleground where they had left the Enzyme IIIs Hikari began to try and lock onto the mind of the single Enzyme III that remained. When she was unable to do that the first time, Hikari tried once more, it was when that attempt failed as well that Hikari made up her mind to contact Imakarum. It was just as well that the two of them arrived at the battlefield just as she was about to ask Imakarum if he had also failed to contact their Zoanoid troops.

The scars from the fight were all very visible on the ground, and the fact that both the Guyvers and Aptom were still alive – though at least in Aptom's case he had suffered debilitating, and rather amusing, injuries – made it rather apparent that the last of their Enzyme IIIs was dead.

"You managed to defeat all of our Enzyme IIIs?" Imakarum wondered aloud. "I must admit, I'm impressed."

"Yes, and without any casualties," Hikari said, not quite sure whether she was more annoyed or impressed herself. "I would not have expected something like this to be the result of our attacks. Such a shame what happened to Aptom though, is it not?" Hikari laughed, genuinely amused.

"Oh yes," Imakarum drawled, laughing. "Tragic."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As Yukari hung, battered and unable to move but still clinging to consciousness, her neck firmly in Ms. Murakami's ungentle grip, she wondered what was going to happen. Neither of them had really been able to fight against the people they'd been friends with; against the people who both of them had had to watch die because of their own failure. Would all of their friends have to pay the price for their failure now?

And how would either of them live with themselves if that was the case?

Mizuki looked worried, but since Yukari was using up almost all of her energy just fighting to stay awake, there was nothing she could say to reassure her friend that everything was going to be all right. When Yukari felt her own feet settling back to the ground, she also started hearing the laughter of the two Zoalords who had been attacking them. The two Zoalords who had once been their friends.

"I really didn't think that you would have been able to kill all four of our Enzyme troops without more than a few casualties," Mr. Murakami said, sounding like a large predator on the hunt. "Still, I rather doubt that any of you have the power left to defeat us."

"Yes," Ms. Murakami said, sounding like she was about to start laughing any second. "They all look like they've been put through a paper-shredder. And poor Aptom is missing all his limbs."

"Now; it would be very easy for us to kill every last one of you," Mr. Murakami said, in the tone of someone talking about the weather. "But, I don't think that either of us would really enjoy that," Mr. Murakami paused for a moment, Yukari didn't really know why. "No, neither of us would find that very amusing at all. So, I will tear Sho Fukamachi's Control Medal out right here and now," Mr. Murakami's head turned slightly, and for a moment Yukari got the very uncomfortable impression that he was looking right through her Guyver armor, and that he could tell that she was awake.

But he couldn't, could he?

"And if our little Yukari-chan isn't in the mood to shed her armor at the moment, then we will start killing you one-by-one until she makes up her mind to do so," Mr. Murakami sneered, giving credence to Yukari's fear.

Yukari shivered, not wanting to hand herself over to Chronos if she could help it, but not knowing what else she could do. Yukari didn't want anyone else to suffer because of her, but she, and Sho, and Akane, and Agito were the only ones who stood between Chronos and the rest of the world. There were other people who would be hurt, maybe even killed, if Chronos managed to get their hands on her and her Guyver. Yukari didn't know what to do.

_+Yukari!+_

_+S-Sho?+_

_+Yeah. Listen; Agito wants us to call the chrysalises.+_

_+Why would he want us to do something like that?+_

_+I don't know for certain, but I think it might have something to do with the Gigantic armor. I think we should try it; it's not like we have much else to lose.+_

_+All right Sho, I'll try.+_

Just as she was about to try and call up the chrysalis that allowed her to transform into her Gigantic armor, Yukari heard Sho start to scream. Yukari had been so absorbed in the conversation that she'd been having with him, that she hadn't even noticed that Mr. Murakami had been talking. When Yukari felt her feet leave the ground, not by her own doing, she turned to look around at what was happening. At least as much as she could, given her current weakened condition.

What Yukari saw was that Sho had managed to summon his own chrysalis. Yukari had only a moment to feel happy for Sho, and then to start to summon her own chrysalis, before she found herself thrown through the air and facing Ms. Murakami eye-to-eye.

"Oh no you don't!"

Ms. Murakami's hand lashed out fast as a striking snake, and the next thing Yukari knew was that she couldn't breathe. Clawing at her own throat as she fell, Yukari found herself shedding her Guyver armor. Almost falling out of it as she gasped for air that was all too slow in coming. Before she could get a good lungful, Yukari felt someone's large hand clamp down on her face; one of the fingers jabbing her in the left eye.

All she saw after that was a bright flash of light, and all she felt was a sharp rush of air. As if someone had just snapped a large and invisible rubberband all over her skin. Still feeling the pain from her eye, and being very disoriented besides, Yukari couldn't put up even a token struggle when the person who had grabbed her head – probably Ms. Murakami – threw her to the floor. She didn't hit her head, but only because someone else grabbed her around the shoulders before she could topple too far.

That same person pressed something sharp into her neck, and Yukari found her body growing even more heavy and sluggish than it had been even after the fight. As her mind grew more and more muddled, Yukari almost thought that she heard someone calling out to her over the link…


	9. Deconstruction and Reconstruction

**Deconstruction and Reconstruction**

Agito had not known that his counterpart had had such a varied collection of vulgar, obscene and blasphemous words and phrases at her disposal; at least up until the point where she started using them. They were very inventive, and she had not repeated herself once since she had started speaking. The fact that some of were in other languages did not surprise him, since he had also studied abroad; but the fact that she was speaking in a steady, nearly unemotional tone was rather amusing.

_+I must admit, that was a rather unexpected turn of events,+_ Agito said, even as he donned the armor of Gigantic Dark - and wasn't that a most satisfying name - and felt its power flow into him and through him.

_+That bitch could have at least waited until Yukari had called the chrysalis for me.+_

_+I think it was her intention to keep you from possessing this power.+_

_+Yes; I am rather aware of that. I suppose I have no choice but to leave this battle in your hands, Agito.+_

_+I won't let those two beat me; I'm not Fukamachi.+_

_+Yes, I know. Those sentimental idiots never could do what has to be done. We can.+_

_+I'm glad you see things my way, Akane.+_

_+Or perhaps you see things my way, Agito.+_

Agito chuckled. _+Perhaps.+_

"One Gigantic against the two of us," Hikari Mirabilis said, obviously too arrogant to realize how outmatched she was. "It hardly seems fair. But then, we really never have cared about fairness, have we my Lord?"

"No, my Lady," Imakarum Mirabilis said, with that same arrogant tone. "We never have been overly concerned with such a foolish concept."

"Please, spare me the idiotic posturing," Akane drawled, getting to her feet and moving to stand beside him. "I may not be able to personally help Agito kill the both of you, but I _will_ enjoy hearing him talk about the battle when he returns."

"What do you say to that, Imakarum and Hikari Mirabilis? I am your opponent now!"

"_I_ say it's just one more Gigantic for us to play with," Hikari sneered.

"We will play this pointless game of yours, Agito Makishima," Imakarum said, remarkably calmly for someone in his situation. "But we will fight in a place of my choosing!"

"Very well then!" Agito said, as he launched himself into the air.

_+I know that neither of us believes in luck; but I will wish you happy hunting, Agito.+_

_+Thank you, Akane. Take care of Shizu while I'm away, it would be better for her if she didn't think about what happened today.+_

_+Yes, of course. I will try to give her something else to think about.+_

Satisfied that Shizu would not be focused so much on Yohei, who he still had not gotten his revenge for, Agito continued to follow the two Zoalords as they flew toward some destination known only to themselves. When Agito began to notice that they were flying over some of the more populated areas, he at first thought that the Zoalords were trying to disorient him and get him lost. It was a rather commonplace tactic; to throw your enemies off-track by leading them to as many different places as you were able.

When both versions of Imakarum Mirabilis stopped, hovering above the city with an air of both finality and satisfaction about them, Agito started to wonder just what it was that they thought they were doing. There was no advantage to facing him in this kind of terrain, nothing that could not be found on a more open battleground. In fact, with all of the structures in the way, it would make air-to-ground combat - or its inverse - a great deal more difficult.

"You two wish to engage me in this crowded, urban area?" Agito scoffed. "For what reason?"

"I suppose it may be a difficult concept for you to understand, Agito Makishima," Hikari sneered. "So please, let us _elaborate_!"

The next thing that Agito knew, he was forced to dodge the Incision Waves that both Zoalords had fired at him. The blasts that would have split him in half had they connected with his unprotected body instead unleashed their full force on the city that the three of them were hovering over.

"Do you understand now why we chose this place as our battlefield?" Imakarum demanded, laughing like the mad thing he was. "Even if our shots miss you, they won't go to waste here!"

_So that's their plan... These fools don't realize who they're dealing with._ Snapping open the covers of his enhanced sonic emitters, Agito fired at the nearest Zoalord. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to kill Imakarum Mirabilis; only to mildly disorient him and shear off two of the three black spikes that protruded from the right side of his head. Hikari seemed to be rather enraged by this, so maybe there was a way to deal with both of them; Hikari certainly gave the impression that attacking Imakarum was a good way to distract and anger her and throw her off her game.

Oddly enough, the same did not quite seem to hold true for Imakarum. Not to the same extent, anyway.

As the tower that had been blown apart by his sonic attack fell to the ground, Agito laughed at the expressions of obvious confusion on the faces of his Zoalord opponents. "You both made a grave mistake, assuming that I would react like Fukamachi," Agito scoffed. "I couldn't care less if our battle leveled this entire city!"

The two Zoalords shared a look, some wordless communication, and then they started attacking with oddly complementary movements. One of them always seemed to be covering for the other. When he blocked a volley of Gravity Bullets from Imakarum, Hikari was firing an Incision Wave at him. When he moved to attack one of them, the other would always launch an attack to drive him away. In fact, those two seemed to be working together a little too well; anticipating the other's moves a little too fluently.

When a thought dawned on him, Agito decided to take a calculated risk. Dodging and weaving in-between the energy and gravity blasts that were being aimed at him, Agito rammed his fully extended Vibration Blade deep into the left side of Imakarum Mirabilis' gut. The Zoalord screamed as the pain hit him, but what was more interesting - and gratifying - was that Hikari also screamed, holding the exact same spot on her own body and curling defensively around it as if she herself had been wounded.

_Interesting; a two-way telepathic link that allows them to function effectively as a single entity._ That explained why they were reacting to his attack in such a way; with that kind of a mental link, what hurt one would inevitably cause the other the same amount of pain. And in the same area, no less. That would be very useful knowledge.

Diving in on the attack again, Agito used his shields to deflect a volley of Gravity Bullets from both Zoalords and then rammed the foremost Vibration Blade on his left arm deep into Hikari Mirabilis' right shoulder. The screams of both Zoalords were a clear sign that both of them were still mentally linked; and as long as they remained so, any damage to one would affect the other to the exact same extent. Mentally anyway.

It was only after a crushing punch to Imakarum's gut sent both him and Hikari staggering backward through the air, holding their respective midsections, that the two Zoalords apparently decided to disengage their telepathic link and face him as separate entities. Agito, powering up the Gigantic's Pressure Cannon, fired it at Imakarum before the Zoalord could fully reorient himself into his own mind. Hikari, however, managed to draw up enough concentration to raise her own forcefield in front of her counterpart.

Not that it mattered very much what that Chronos bitch was trying to do, since hers was just another barrier for Agito to break down. And he _would_ break it, with the power of the Gigantic at his disposal. "What's wrong, Sayuri?" Agito demanded, as he saw the female Zoalord begin to falter. "Is a mere barrier using up all of your energy?!"

When Imakarum moved to reinforce Hikari's shield, Agito hit both of them with the Gigantic's Pressure Cannon. He could see that even their combined barriers would only be able to stand up against a few more strikes, Agito felt a sense of cold satisfaction. Then he fired the Pressure Cannon until he saw that Imakarum was beginning to falter as well. Laughing at the futility of the two Zoalords' efforts to save themselves, Agito fired one last shot.

The shot that destabilized the barrier, collapsed it, and sent both Zoalords crashing through the wall of the bulding in front of which their battle had moved. As the two of them attempted to help each other back to their feet, Agito glided up the hole in the wall that their crash had left.

"Do you realize now how overmatched you both are?! The Gigantic armor was created to fight against Alkanphel! Neither of you stands a _chance_ against that kind of strength!"

With a growled string of obscenities from Imakarum, and a few decorative metaphors from Hikari - as well as something unspoken that seemed to pass between them - Imakarum turned on him again.

"Don't underestimate us, Makishima!" the Zoalord screamed, as he fired his cyclone energy blast.

Calling up the Gigantic's forcefield again, Agito rode out the blast. "_Idiots_! Your feeble powers are as nothing compared to the strength of the armor I now control!"

When the air around him cleared, though, Agito found that he had been shouting at an empty building; the two Zoalords were nowhere to be found. Biting back a few choice words himself, Agito flew into the building after them; just as both Zoalords bashed their way out the opposite wall. Agito could sense their actions using the enhanced sensors of the Gigantic; he knew what they were doing. Firing the main Head Beam, Agito chuckled coldly when he sensed it connecting with one of his targets.

Then, sensing that something had changed - something in the air and in the energy-field surrounding one of his Zoalord opponents, Agito stopped. This change, whatever it was, had the potential to cause him problems if the Zoalord in question had effected it for a specific purpose. Scanning deeper, and flying towards the two Zoalords even as he did so, Agito saw a burst of strange light - balls of light, no less - come flying out at him. The orbs of red light swirled inward and coalesced into a single mass in front of him with a burst of bright light.

And that was when the battle started to get a great deal stranger.

Agito raised the Gigantic's forcefield. The mass of light in front of him started to turn black; not fading, but somehow becoming something that was fundamentally the opposite of light. The transformation was accompanied by an ever-rising wind. The transformation was also impossible. Something like this could not happen on Earth; could not happen in a place where there was insufficient mass to form this kind of a gravitational distortion.

Agito knew that he could not be seeing this; and yet he was.

"Do you still think you can defeat us, Makishima?!" Hikari demanded. "Do you think you can stand against a weapon such as this?!"

"This is the most potent of my techniques," oddly enough, Imakarum was missing all of the red orbs on his body. "My forbidden weapon: the Virtual Black Hole!"

_Of course,_ Agito realized, reinforcing the Gigantic's forcefield even as he did so. _Hikari is the only one with all of the red orbs still in place. I believe Murakami had a name for them, but things have been somewhat... fraught since we last met. Regardless, Imakarum's orbs must be the key to it. But, now that I know that, how do I destroy this thing?_

Imakarum's virtual black hole seemed to be causing a great deal of damage to the surrounding area, but neither Agito nor either of his Zoalord opponents were particularly concerned about that fact.

"Do you comprehend the power of my Virtual Black Hole, Makishima?!" Imakarum demanded. "Do you even think you can?! Even with the all the might of the Gigantic at your command, you're going to die here and now!"

"You really should give up now, Makishima," Hikari said, in the tone of someone who was merely giving some much-needed advice. "Before my counterpart's Virtual Black Hole stops being Virtual and becomes an actual Black Hole."

Imakarum, despite looking rather strained and worn, chuckled. "Yes; if this Virtual Black Hole of mine were to exist beyond its intended duration, it would indeed become an actual Black Hole. And then, not even I would be able to destroy it."

Forcing more power into the Gigantic's forcefield as he felt the virtual black hole tugging at him more insistently, Agito made himself calm down. _There has to be a way for me to destroy this. This virtual black hole was created by Imakarum, so maybe he would be the key to all of this. It does seem as if maintaining this gravitational distortion costs him a great deal of energy. That would make sense, I suppose._

Focusing on the distortion in space in front of him - Agito personally doubted that such a weapon as this would have any affect on the local time - Agito started to see past the virtual event horizon. What lay beneath, covered by the lack of visible light, were the same red orbs that he had seen in the sky, and on Hikari's body. They were orbiting each other in a particularly complex pattern.

_It appears that the orbs Imakarum released simulate extreme gravity by interacting with each other. Their stable orbits, most likely maintained by an infusion of Imakarum's own energy, if the way he is acting now is any indication. So, if the interaction between these orbs were to be disrupted, or their motion stopped... yes, that might do it._ Agito concentrated, bringing the Gigasmashers online and beginning the process of fully charging them.

It took about one and a half times longer than the Megasmasher to fully charge; but with the power that his Fukamachi had displayed when he had used the Gigasmasher, it was a shorter duration than Agito had truthfully been expecting. As the Gigasmasher reached full power, Agito fired it into the center of the disturbance. Nothing happened. Agito could hear the Zoalords behind him laughing, taunting him about the fact that his own gambit had failed.

_Or... perhaps it hasn't,_ Agito mused. _Perhaps I simply need to wait; the paths of the orbs seem to be destabilized now._ Sure enough, after he had waited about half a minute, the virtual black hole exploded with the force of a bomb. Agito laughed; he laughed at the sheer terror in Imakarum Mirabilis' voice, laughed at the way Hikari was futilely trying to reassure him that the two of them would be able to defeat him somehow. As if two mere Zoalords, one of which had used up most of his energy, were a match for his Gigantic Dark.

"Well, I have to admit that I wasn't expecting such a powerful attack, Imakarum," Agito said, turning his attention back to the two Zoalords. "But that was the last of your trump cards; you played it and lost. And for your failure, both you and Hikari are going to die here and now!"

As he dove at Imakarum, right fist extended and charged with gravitational energy in preparation for delivering a Gravity Punch to the Zoalord's head, Agito saw Hikari throw herself in front of Imakarum. Shielding him with her own body, the female Zoalord grabbed his wrist in a futile attempt to prevent him from hitting either his current target or the one she had just given him. Agito laughed as he felt every bone in the idiotic woman's wrist shattering from the force that his blow imparted on it.

Agito laughed a great deal harder when he saw her Zoacrystal crack in several places and he heard her screaming in tormented agony.

"What a worthless sacrifice you made, Hikari Mirabilis!" Agito taunted. "It won't save your counterpart, and it leaves you helpless to even save yourself!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As Hikari slammed bodily into him, writhing and screaming and clutching at her damaged Zoacrystal, Imakarum wrapped his arms around her waist and cradled her against his own body. There wasn't much more he could do, not with his own energy so depleted. When he heard Makishima laughing at them, and more than that moving in to kill them both while they were weakened this way, Imakarum dove out of the Dark Gigantic's way.

He had to protect himself; more than that, he had to protect Hikari. He did not know why she had done something so foolish as to take a blow meant for him; perhaps she had thought to use her barrier to repel or diffuse the force of the Dark Gigantic's blow. With her energy reserves in better condition than his own, there might have even been a chance for her to succeed.

But now, as much as he hated to give credence to Agito Makishima's taunting, Hikari was unable to aid him in this battle. She was nothing but a burden now.

A burden that he had to carry, for Hikari was also a Zoalord and very loyal to Lord Alkanphel. Her usefulness as a warrior and a source of information had not ended; and Lord Alkanphel seemed to be rather partial to her. Even as he was partial to Imakarum himself.

Besides, with three Guyvers and two Gigantics, Hikari's power would still be needed.

When he heard a distinct popping sound, Imakarum looked back up at the Dark Gigantic. He was greeted with a very welcome sight: the armor of the Dark Gigantic ripping itself from Makishima's Guyver and disappearing from all of his senses. It was not so much of a reprieve; with his energy reserves so low and without Hikari to aid him, he would not have an easy time defeating Guyver III.

Nonetheless, it was the best thing he could have hoped for. Now that he was no longer facing the overwhelming power of the Dark Gigantic, Imakarum had at least some hope of holding off Guyver III's assault - surviving it at the very least - until another Zoalord inevitably appeared. There would be no concealing this kind of a disaster from the rest of Chronos, and Lord Fried'rich would doubtless be coming to investigate the surge of energy released when his Virtual Black Hole had detonated.

In fact, Imakarum could sense his fellow Zoalord approaching presently. Even Guyver III was not so foolish as to think that he could best a Zoalord at the top of his game in that form. And he obviously could not call the Gigantic again. Agito left with only a single look at Imakarum.

Probably trying to intimidate him; Imakarum laughed to show the boy the futility of his efforts.

Watching as Lord Fried'rich came ever closer to their battleground, Imakarum heard him call out.

"Yes, I'm here!"

Lord Fried'rich was at his side in a moment.

"Lady Hikari, is she-"

"Badly injured," Imakarum said, assuaging Lord Fried'rich's worries before he could fully state them. "And for now, thankfully unconscious."

Hikari's eyes were still open, and her pupils had dilated to the point where her eyes looked completely black. Her mouth was still open, as if she was still crying out for aid. Imakarum saw Lord Fried'rich cupping Hikari's chin, and watched as the other Zoalord gently closed her mouth. Then Lord Fried'rich gently put his hand on her face and closed her eyes.

Hikari looked peaceful now, as if she was merely sleeping. The illusion was marred by the cracked Zoacrystal in the center of her forehead, and the fact that no Zoalord would have slept in their battleform. When Imakarum sensed the arrival of another Zoalord, a very powerful Zoalord, both he and Lord Fried'rich turned to look at the distortion in the air that signaled the Zoalord's arrival.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Alkanphel, hearing Sayuri's cry of pain even in the grip of his deep sleep, snapped his eyes open and stared at the ceiling of his temple for only a moment before he lunged out of his stone bed and stood up. That scream from his only female child had not been something that he could have ignored; something conjured up by his subconscious mind. Even ignoring the fact that he was not such a one to imagine his children in pain, Sayuri's scream had echoed in his own mind the way that only a telepathic communication from one of his Zoalords would have done.

And now he had arrived, and he could see Masaki and Fried'rich gathered around Sayuri's supine form. Masaki was supporting his only female child; holding her while Fried'rich had seemed to be fussing over her. Seemed to be, because Fried'rich was now turned toward him and bowing slightly.

"Lord Alkanphel," Fried'rich said, turning a look of reverence mixed with fear. "I am glad to see you, my Lord."

"Sayuri," he said, gliding over to where she rested, secure in Masaki's arms. "How is she?"

"She has been badly injured, Lord Alkanphel," Masaki said, still cradling Sayuri as she struggled to heal herself.

"Yes," Alkanphel said, as he reached out to touch Sayuri's damaged Zoacrystal. "Are you in any condition to fly, Masaki?"

"I think my energy reserves would hold out for a short time, Lord Alkanphel," Masaki said, bowing his head slightly. "What do you want me to do?"

"Give Sayuri to me," Alkanphel said, holding out his hands even as Masaki laid Sayuri in his arms and he cradled her. "I will take her to be healed. Masaki, you will return to Cloud Gate with Fried'rich so that you may recover from this battle."

"Yes, Lord Alkanphel."

Before either of his two loyal Zoalords could ask him where he was going, Alkanphel turned and flew away. There were many secrets that he still kept from even Fried'rich and Shin; Silha, the island where he intended to take Sayuri to recover from her wounds and energy-depletion, was still one of them for the time being. Perhaps he would tell them, since those two had long since proven their loyalty to him beyond question.

But now was not the time for such things; Sayuri needed his care far more urgently than Shin or Fried'rich needed his reassurances. And that was why he was flying at top speed for Silha, his barrier at full strength to deflect or repel anything that might impede his progress. He would see Sayuri restored to full health so that she could stand by his side during any battles that occurred in the future.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The girl gasping on the operating table as she struggled to fight off the drugs in her system, the ones designed to keep her asleep and hence harmless, looked about as far removed from the wicked-dangerous exterminator of Zoanoids that Razell had heard about as it was possible to imagine. Her clothes had been removed and replaced with a standard hospital gown some time ago, even that funny looking powder pink scarf she'd been wearing. Razell couldn't help but think that that thing had been knitted by one of her grandparents.

It'd go a long way towards explaining why she'd decided to actually _wear _a silly-looking thing like that.

As Razell peered more closely at the little Guyver girl's face, covered in a sheen of sweat as her body tried to purge itself of the drugs, Razell wondered again just what she'd been thinking when she'd decided to take up the fight against Chronos with her... brother. _Gah, probably her twin, judging by how much they look like each other in those photos. I guess in this case, blood wins out over good sense._

It'd been like that for him, too. All of his family had worked for Chronos, in varying capacities, and now here he was; carrying on the tradition. He'd been processed about a week ago, and so he was still getting used to his new form and the way it moved and reacted. The new senses, most of which came in through his antennae, were also taking a fair amount of getting used to. That was why he hadn't been let out of the Arizona base, yet.

And now here he was, staring down at one of the most dangerous enemies that a Zoanoid like him could ever face, and Razell found that he was feeling sorry for her. She'd probably only gotten into this because her brother had decided to try and fight, and she had wanted to protect him.

At the sound of footfalls, lots of them, Razell looked up to see that a fairly large group of scientists were entering the room now.

"What are you doing in here, Tory?"

"I was just looking at her," Razell said, pointing to the brown-haired girl on the table. "She doesn't look nearly as bad from this angle."

"That's true," his older sister, Miss big-shot head scientist honcho, said with a nod and a smile. "She almost looks harmless like this, but you have to remember that she would most likely attack you without a second thought if she were conscious."

Razell nodded, though he personally doubted that that would have been the case.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As soon as all of them had made it to Prof. Odagiri's mansion, and it really was a beautiful place, Shizu had locked herself in her room and gone to fetch her knitting needles. Yukari had started working on a knitted jacket for herself, wanting to work on something more complex than scarves but not really wanting to make socks. Shizu had warned her that a jacket was even more complicated than a sweater, and sweaters were very hard to make.

Yukari had welcomed the challenge with the air on someone who needed something to keep their mind from wandering. And so Shizu had taken it upon herself to teach Yukari how to knit something that she would be proud of. And that was why she was going to finish Yukari's jacket, so she would be able to present it to Yukari as a gift. Because Yukari was not - _WAS NOT! WAS NOT! WAS NOT!_ - going to be missing forever.

Master Agito and Mistress Akane were going to rescue her, and then Shizu would be able to give Yukari the finished jacket as a coming home present. After all, Chronos could not _- COULD NOT! COULD NOT! COULD NOT!_ - possibly do anything to harm a Guyver. And Yukari was a Guyver, so she was going to be perfectly safe.

That was why Shizu felt perfectly justified about finishing up the jacket Yukari had been working on; because Yukari was fine.

_Yukari clutched at her throat, gasping for air with the Guyver's breathing tubes torn away_

She was just fine.

_Yukari fell out of the sky, her armor disappearing behind her_

Master and Mistress were going to rescue her.

_Hikari Mirabilis grabbed Yukari out of the air by her head, disappearing and then reappearing. But Yukari was gone_

And then all of them could be a family again; so she really should get back to work on Yukari's jacket so she could give it to Yukari when she got back.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Sayuri had been recuperating in his life-pod for just over half an hour, when Masaki walked in.

"How's she doing, Lord Alkanphel?"

"Her body has mostly recovered from the energy drain," he said, looking at the spiderweb of cracks that stretched across Sayuri's Zoacrystal. "It will be some time before she is recovered enough to be awakened. Have there been any new developments at Chronos while I was away?"

"Lord Fried'rich called a meeting to discuss ways to deal with the threat of the Gigantic Guyvers," Masaki said, turning to face him after he had apparently finished his examination of Sayuri's healing form.

"I appreciate that; it is good to know that Fried'rich was showing some initiative. What was the final consensus?"

"There wasn't any, my Lord," Masaki said. "Balkus seemed more interested in waiting for your response than in formulating a strategy of our own."

Alkanphel sighed. "Hamilcal _was_ always more interested in maintaining the status quo than in planning for contingencies. Masaki?"

"Yes, my Lord?"

"If I am unable to attend the next time my Council meets, tell them from me that they are to protect the interests of Chronos, even though they might be unable to communicate with me personally."

"I will make certain that they understand this, my Lord."

"Thank you, Masaki," Alkanphel said, turning back to watch Sayuri as she healed. "Is there anything else you have to report?"

"No, Lord Alkanphel."

"Very well. Return to Cloud Gate for now, I will call on you if I have need of you."

"Yes, my Lord," Masaki bowed low, and quickly departed.

Turning back to observe the healing form of his only daughter, Alkanphel hoped that Masaki would have something more substantial to report to him the next time they met. He already knew from Sayuri's memories that Yukari Fukamachi had been brought to Chronos. A Razell in that building had acted as his eyes and ears as the girl was contained and subdued in preparation for transport to the facility at Arizona.

It would soon be time for him to decide what to do with her. He had some ideas, yes, however there was still the matter of finalizing them. And the matter of her Guyver, as well.

"What would you have me do, Sayuri?" Alkanphel asked, speaking more for his own benefit than that of his daughter. "I know that this young girl was your friend, but she is also an enemy of Chronos and all that we stand for. Would it be possible for us to control her?"

_-Tell me what you know, Sayuri.-_

As he slipped into the consciousness of his daughter, Alkanphel began to see just what made Yukari Fukamachi, the female First Guyver, what she was. And why she had made the decision to stand against Chronos in the first place.

He saw Yukari as she sobbed in Sayuri's arms, after she realized that she had been responsible for the death of her father. It had been an accident, to be sure. One of Hamilcal's more amoral plans, no doubt. Still, even though she had been in a fugue-state while her Guyver unit cloned the necessary brain tissue to ensure her survival, Yukari had still taken the responsibility for her father's death upon herself.

The girl was almost like Fried'rich in that way; she would do anything to spare her friends and those she had claimed as family from suffering. Alkanphel could see this very clearly in Sayuri's memories from when she had fought by the side of that young woman. Yukari could possibly be reworked in the same way that Sayuri had been; reworked to serve Chronos in the same capacity.

Surely the fact that Sayuri could remember the way she had died in Yukari's arms would be useful information. The anguish that the girl had suffered during that time would make her receptive to the offer of rejoining the one who had meant so much to her. Such strong feelings would make her all the more malleable; easy to mold into his loyal servant.

Still, the fact that he was not at the top of his game - Alkanphel was not so optimistic as to think that this awakening of his was anything more than a temporary reprieve from his hibernation - meant that he would not be able to devote his full attention to Yukari's reconditioning, as would be prudent. Perhaps a temporary measure while he slept, then?

He would have to speak to Hamilcal about that.

Disengaging from Sayuri's mind, Alkanphel gently patted the life-pod where she slept. His daughter would awaken once she was fully healed. And, perhaps by then, Alkanphel would have adopted another foundling. He had a feeling that Sayuri would rather enjoy having a sister.


	10. Dark Genesis Awakening

**Dark Genesis Awakening**

"I knew I'd find you out here," she said, in her voice that was too husky to belong to a normal woman. "You know you're taking a risk by putting yourself so close. After all, we're not supposed to be alive; we wouldn't want to change that perception unless there was something to be gained."

"Of course not," he returned, wrapping his left arm around her waist. "Still," he peered up at the towering Chronos building in the snow. "There are so many things that I want to do to them."

"And you think I don't share these ambitions of yours?" she chuckled, obviously not as offended as she professed to be. "I am willing to take risks, my counterpart, provided that I stand to gain something from them. However, the only thing this risk of yours promises is loss."

"Very well, I'll return to the safehouse with you. It _is_ getting rather cold."

Again she chuckled with that husky voice. "I'm certain that we will find _some_ way to keep each other warm."

Grinning lecherously, he gave her a squeeze with his left arm. "_That's_ certain to make me walk faster."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Aptom, still a little shaken from seeing Yukari disappear right before his eyes but still fed up with the way Sho still hadn't made up his mind to fight, made his way through the falling snow. There wasn't much of it, and he didn't really feel the cold, but it was pretty and he wanted to take a little time to enjoy it. Still, the fact was that Sho was overdue for a good shaking-up.

The way the kid had been moping around lately, Aptom was really looking forward to delivering it. He now stood just outside the balcony, watching as Sho moped. And moped. And moped some more.

Giving the snow-covered branch in front of him a good kick, Aptom watched as Sho jerked his head in the direction of the sound. He seemed to settle down when he thought that it was only some snow falling, but then he saw Aptom sitting in the tree. Turning and leaping out of the tree just before Sho dove off the balcony, Aptom heard the kid call his Guyver.

This was going to be _seriously_ fun.

Running and leaping with Guyver I now on his tail, Aptom laughed to himself. Now all he had to do was lead Sho somewhere nice and secluded, somewhere that Chronos wouldn't interrupt their fun, and then he could merrily beat some sense into the little Guyver boy.

Leaping over a shot from the Head Beam, one that still nearly seared his feet, Aptom started bounding from rooftop to rooftop. Going back to ground when he saw a good place to carry out his plans, Aptom leapt over a low wall - low for him, anyway - and made his way into the abandoned factory that was going to be his battlefield. There were so many shadows to play with in a place like this; terrain that could be put to good use, and hiding places where he could shapeshift into one of his other forms without being seen.

When he was trying to knock some sense into Sho by making him fight against what he thought were Chronos-produced Zoanoids, _not_ being seen was a good thing.

Once Sho had put himself fully inside Aptom's little funhouse, Aptom fired the bio-lasers he'd picked up from Zektor. The Hyper Zoanoid had given him a rather lovely parting gift back in Relic Point: his own leg.

Now that Sho stood in front of him, all five of him in varying forms, Aptom decided that it was time to commence the beating. Firing a stream of bio-napalm from "Darzerb's" mouth, Aptom unleashed a pair of "Gaster's" missiles. When Sho called the Gigantic, Aptom was gratified for a moment, before he decided that it was time to move on to stage two.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Shizu, despite the fact that she really hadn't anything to do that would help, had decided to go with Master Agito and Mistress Akane to their base in America. Mistress had seemed stressed ever since Yukari had disappeared, stressed and rather irritable at times. Shizu could understand why her Mistress felt that way, since she herself worried about what was happening to Yukari, at least when she forgot to remind herself that Chronos _couldn't_ harm a Guyver.

Master and Mistress would rescue Yukari, and then everything would be fine; she should really finish her knitting.

When the call went out for the Thunderbolts to be prepared for a possible skirmish, Shizu wondered what was going on. That was when Mistress Akane came into her room.

"Agito has launched an attack on Chronos Headquarters," Mistress Akane said calmly. "I thought you would like to know. That is why we're currently on combat alert; there is a possibility that reprisals will be directed here."

"Why aren't you out there fighting with him?"

"It was mutually decided that I would be of more use here, to deal with any Zoanoids that try to attack this place while he's away."

"Oh, that makes sense," Shizu said, as she returned to her knitting. "Mistress Akane?"

"Yes?"

"Have you heard anything from Yukari, or even about her?"

"No."

And that was all she heard, since Mistress Akane left after saying that. Sighing, Shizu reminded herself again that Chronos could not - _COULD NOT! COULD NOT!_ - be doing anything to harm Yukari. Yukari was a Guyver; like Sho, As if Master and Mistress, and Chronos didn't have the strength to harm a Guyver. She should really finish Yukari's jacket for her.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As Aptom continued to test Sho's limits, by blasting him around and shocking him with "Elegen's" tentacles, he continued to subtly maneuver the kid; then he had to jump out of the way as they Guyver's sonic blasts tore into the roof of the building and collapsed part of it. Aptom chuckled to himself, even as "Zektor" led the rest of "Team Five" out of the building and around the corner. It was time to see just how far Sho's resolve would carry him.

Time to see if he was _really_ ready to go out and fight Chronos, or if he needed a bit more beating.

The way he stopped, staring dumbstruck at "Imakarum", wasn't an encouraging sign.

"Well now, Sho, do you see something you recognize?" Aptom asked, mimicking Imakarum's voice.

"It-it can't be you... Mr. Murakami, you're still alive?"

"Indeed I am, Sho," Aptom said, pretty sure that he wasn't lying on the Zoalord's behalf. His kind were damn hard to kill, and that wasn't even mentioning the fact that his Zoabitch counterpart was still out there. "But that description isn't going to apply to _you_ for much longer!"

"Team Five" fired a massed attack on Sho, causing the Gigantic Guyver to go rolling, knocked off his feet by the concussion. It also brought down a bit more of the factory on them, spreading a cloud of dust over the floor where they were battling. Of course, having a cloud of dust meant Aptom, or rather "Imakarum" and "Team Five" could stride dramatically out of it, and so that was what he did.

"What do you intend to do now, Sho? Weren't _you_ the one-"

"You-you're not Mr. Murakami," Sho said, pointing a shaky finger at him. "I want to know who you really are, and-" Sho fell to his knees. "_No_- not now!"

The armor of the Gigantic peeled off, reassembling behind Sho as an empty shell of itself, and then falling back further as the cocoon closed around it. Aptom had the feeling that he hadn't done that on purpose. Especially with the way he was looking at the spot where the cocoon had disappeared from.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The blood samples that had been taken from Yukari Fukamachi, on his orders, showed a great deal of promise. As she was, Yukari would have made an excellent Zoanoid; some improvements would be needed before the girl would be suitable for processing into a Zoalord, however. That was why he himself was working on a synthetic virus.

The virus would overwrite her genetic code, preparing the young woman to become a Zoalord within Chronos' ranks. Lord Alkanphel had discussed this course of action with him, along with the temporary measures that he wanted put into place while he hibernated.

"Dr. Balkus!"

"What is it?" he asked, turning to regard his Zoanoid aide.

"We're under attack, sir!"

"_What_?!"

The main screen activated, displaying a figure that resembled a distorted version of Guyver III.

"Greetings, gentlemen," the apparition said in Agito Makishima's voice. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Gigantic Dark. This is not the first time that we have met, Dr. Balkus."

"I should think not, Guyver III. Or, more precisely, Agito Makishima!"

"Ah, has the great Dr. Balkus figured out my identity at last?"

"I have suspected that you were the one behind these attacks for a very long time. With the reports of the destruction in Yokohama, and the appearance of the Zeus' Thunderbolts faction, I knew that the black Gigantic had to be either you or that accursed counterpart of yours. Now, what have you come here for?"

"I have come to wipe Chronos off the face of the Earth! I will begin with your proud Arizona base, and then I will move on to the rest of Chronos!"

"Do you really think that you can destroy a facility this size? Does your hubris truly know no bounds, Makishima?!"

"Destroying this base will be easy, with the Gigantic at my command! I will descend to the lowest level of your precious base, and then I will fire the Gigasmasher straight up! With all of the knowledge at your disposal, Balkus, it should be easy for you to figure out what would happen to this place. I'll see you in the basement when the carnage starts, Balkus."

Dr. Balkus gave orders to his Zoanoids in the lover levels to sound the attack alarms, and to prepare Yukari Fukamachi for rapid transport. Handing the container with the virus, as well as a backup in case of unforeseen complications, to his Zoanoid aide Dr. Balkus directed the Gustav-type to transform and make use of the high-speed elevator. The acceleration of that particular elevator would have severely damaged a human's body, even a Zoanoid in human form would have suffered some minor injuries using it.

It was dangerous to use; and as such reserved for the most pressing of emergencies. It was also the fastest way to get to the lab where Yukari Fukamachi was being prepared to undergo processing into the most powerful and hence highest-ranked type of Zoaform in Chronos' hierarchy.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When they'd gotten word, through the Zoanoids stationed in the laboratory with them, of the attack on this base Dr. Michelle Walters had taken over the responsibility of seeing her people and their project evacuated from the base. The transport tank, filled with amniotic fluid and outfitted with respirator attachments to ensure that a proper oxygen mix was maintained, had already been filled with its cargo in preparation for the evacuation.

Four Razell-types, her little brother among them, were loading the tank onto the maglev sled. This was what was going to take them to one of the way-stations outside of Flagstaff, and from there to one of the smaller processing plants out in the desert. It was far enough from civilization that the Guyver attacking them was not likely to know about it. Still, Michelle knew that she herself would have to stay behind, both to operate the hidden doors that would seal off the escape tunnel, and to detonate this entire laboratory if the Guyver attacking them showed any signs of discovering it.

It wouldn't do to have any of the remaining Guyvers discovering what was being done to their compatriot, after all.

Tory wouldn't like it, the fact that she had to stay behind and operate the door controls and potentially risk her life, but he would understand. Tory was a good kid, but he understood that sometimes sacrifices had to be made for the cause.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Well, now that you've lost the Gigantic - and that was really pathetic, I've got to say - what are you going to do now, Sho?!" Aptom laughed. "Do you even know why you lost the Gigantic to Agito? Because you're a soft-headed, weak-willed little _idiot_!"

Aptom shed the forms he'd been wearing, merging all of them back into his main body and restoring himself to his "normal" form.

"Aptom, it's you!" Sho stared at him in obvious shock. "But why? Why did you do all of this?!"

"You can _ask_ me _that_?! After I've had to put up with your stupid whining? After the way I have to keep covering your ass so you don't end up getting it blown off?! I've had it with watching you wallowing in self-pity while Chronos runs rampant! And if I have to _beat_ the weakness right out of you, then that's what I'm going to do!"

"Aptom, I-"

"I don't want to _hear_ it!" Aptom body-slammed the Guyver, lashing him with electrified tentacles and driving him back across the floor of the factory. "What do you think you're fighting for here, Sho? Your friends? Is that why you were going to let your 'old friend' Murakami kill you?! _Idiot_! What do you think they're going to do to Yukari now that they have her?! Or do you even care about that?"

"I-"

"What, did you forget already that she couldn't fight her Murakami, either?" Aptom hissed in disgust. "That's why they took her, you know. She's as weak as you are!"

"You don't know anything," Sho said, still obviously winded from his earlier fight. "_Nothing_. You don't know anything about Mr. Murakami and the others; what they mean to us."

"Yeah?" Aptom sneered. "Well, I don't really _care_ to know, either. I'd rather not know what you four had; because here's the truth you've been overlooking: you'd rather see people you know would stand by you in a heartbeat die, than kill someone who used to be one of your friends. Even if he did make it really clear that he wasn't your friend anymore; even though he told you flat-out that he was going to kill you. I'd rather _not_ know what you guys were like when you were all on the same side, because then I might become as pathetic as you are now!"

"That's not true."

"Oh, but it _is_," Aptom snarled. "But I don't care so much about that. Because this isn't about me right now; this is about you," grabbing the Guyver-boy by his throat, Aptom hoisted him into the air. "This is about what you did to my comrades when you fought them! For their memory, I can't just let you die this easily. And not at Chronos' hands, either!" hurling Sho at the wall hard enough that he left a crater where he impacted, Aptom took a breath. "It'd be so easy to kill you in this condition; but I won't. Killing a weakling like you wouldn't let Somlum and Dymu rest. So I'll hold off on that; for a while at least."

With those as parting words, Aptom turned and left. Left Sho sitting in a heap where he'd thrown him.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_+Yukari?+_

She twitched, hearing something but not hearing it. Not really.

_+Yukari, please wake up.+_

_+Sho? Am I dreaming?+_

_+I don't think so. Can you see anything?+_

Struggling to open her eyes - her entire body felt heavy, slow and sluggish - Yukari peered up at what looked like the inside of some sort of box. There was a window in the top of the box, near her head, but what she saw through that window didn't make very much sense. The ceiling seemed to be scrolling by her, almost like the credits at the end of a movie.

That thought was funny enough that Yukari laughed for a second, causing bubbles to float up from her mouth.

_+I- I think I'm underwater now; but I'm breathing.+_

_+What?! Yukari, you have to tell me, does it look like you're inside a processing-tank?!+_

_+No. I think I'm in a box. Oh, wait, now someone's opening the box. It's a bug,+_ Yukari laughed. _+There's a bug opening the box.+_

_+Yukari! You have to listen to me! That's one of Chronos' Zoanoids! Call the Guyver! You have to get out of there!+_

_+The Guyver?+_ Yukari tried to think, tried to focus, but the more she fought, the more she became aware of the occluding fog in her mind.

It hadn't been all that noticeable at first, she'd just felt really calm and happy for some reason. But now, now that she was trying to think; _trying_ to summon the clarity of mind to call her Guyver, Yukari found that it was impossible for her to concentrate on any one thing long enough. Calling the Guyver took a great deal of concentration; concentration that she couldn't draw up.

Something was dipped into the water, some kind of... pipe? It bumped against her neck, then something poked into her skin. Yukari felt as if something had pinched her - stung her, really - and then her body started to feel heavy and sluggish again.

_+Yukari? Yukari!+_

_+I'm... sorry, Sho... I... I think I have to go to sleep now.+_

The bug, the Zoanoid, standing over her slowly blurred and faded until she couldn't see anything at all.

_+Yukari, please, you have to get away from them!+_

_+... Sho...+_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As the walls and Zoanoid defenders of Chronos' Arizona Headquarters fell like dead wheat before him, Agito laughed. Did Balkus really think that these weakling insects would have any chance of stopping him now that he had the power of the Gigantic? Did Balkus think he was dealing with Fukamachi, even now?

Still, though they had no way of standing against his power, the legions of Zoanoids throwing themselves at him were beginning to become an annoyance. So Agito decided that it was time to rid himself of them. Slamming a Gravity Punch into the floor below him, Agito smashed into and then through the heavy, reinforced alloys beneath his feet.

There were only a few more levels between himself and the basement of Chronos' massive Arizona base. _Maybe after I've destroyed this place down to its foundations, I'll use the remains to furnish one of my own bases. Some of these alloys could be smelted to make more weapons, or used for repairs._ Agito was not so foolish as to think that he could build one of his Thunderbolt bases on the wreckage of Chronos Arizona without that base being destroyed.

Besides, using the materials that had been so painstakingly assembled, refined and shaped to suit Chronos' needs for the repairs and matenance of his own facilities would be quite enjoyable. More Zoanoids came at him, bearing down from all directions like the walls of a collapsing building, and Agito made short work of them with his Vibration Blades. The new feature that he had discovered, the one that allowed his blades to stretch like elastic and provided them with the flexibility of whips, was a very useful attribute.

Agito crossed his arms, unleashing all six of his Vibration Blades in their elastic form. The Zoanoids who had come to replace the ones he'd killed also died, and Agito began charging the Gigantic's Pressure Cannon. Firing into a group of Zoanoids who'd been stupid enough to try to attack him head-on, Agito blew through the wall and found a storage room.

"Transport containers," he mused aloud. "These could be useful to me."

There was a moment for him to rest, a moment where none of Chronos Arizona's Zoanoids were attacking him, and Agito took that moment to start gathering up the transport containers in front of him. He didn't really need anything else, but it had been rather enjoyable hearing that sheer terror in Balkus' voice when he made his announcement. _Let the old fool wonder what it is I'm planning,_ Agito chuckled as he flew away with his cargo. _It will just make it all the more satisfying when I spring my latest surprise on him. I really must find a way to thank Hayami for giving me the means to accomplish my goal._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Once the container with Yukari Fukamachi had been returned to Chronos' Arizona Headquarters, in the absence of the threat of destruction by the Dark Gigantic's Gigasmasher, Dr. Balkus and the remainder of the Council were meeting to discuss repairs and strategy. Although Dr. Balkus would have been far more interested in continuing his improvements to the girl who had been Guyver I. But, as always, Chronos business came first.

"I am at fault for this disaster," Lord Shin spoke, his quiet voice filled with regret. "If I had been at my post in Washington state, then I would have been able to aid you in this battle."

"It was probably a good thing you weren't," Dr. Balkus said. "If you had lost your life fighting that battle, then Lord Alkanphel would have been greatly displeased."

"Still, it was very audacious of the Guyver to try and enter our main headquarters, even with the power of that Gigantic armor at his disposal," Lord Luggnagg said.

"Regardless, we should not allow the Dark Guyver to escape unscathed when he has attacked Chronos in such a brash way. We should strike back as soon as we are able."

"Do not be so impetuous, Jabir! Luggnagg! We have no orders; I would suggest that you remain silent!"

"Perhaps the idea has some merit," Imakarum spoke, turning to look toward Lords Luggnagg and Jabir. "We _would_ appear rather weak if we failed to retaliate against Makishima."

"I would suggest that you hold your tongue, Mirabilis," Dr. Balkus hissed. "You of all of us should know that we cannot act without the approval of Alkanphel!"

"I have been given orders by our Lord to see that we act in the best interests of Chronos," Imakarum said calmly, but Dr. Balkus could sense that he was rather annoyed.

"Now, now," Lord Jabir said. "There is no need to squabble over such a thing. None of us would ever think of attacking the Gigantic without orders."

"Indeed. We would not want to suffer the same fate as the unfortunate Lady Mirabilis," Lord Luggnagg stated.

"Speaking of such, how is that lovely counterpart of yours doing? Have you seen her lately?" Lord Jabir asked.

"Lady Hikari is injured, but she _is_ recovering," Imakarum said. "I'm not entirely certain when she will be able to rejoin us, but when she returns she will return to us at full strength."

"What I am more interested in is why the Dark Gigantic did not simply destroy our Arizona Headquarters when he had the chance," Lord Kablarl stated. "With the power of his Gigantic armor, he could have easily reduced this place to a crater. If, indeed, that had been his purpose?"

Dr. Balkus grumbled slightly. He knew the reports; that Makishima had been spotted leaving the Arizona facility with a stolen transport container in his possession. Dr. Balkus had his own suspicions about just what had been inside that particular container, but until a thorough inventory of their losses had been completed, he was not going to mention them.

"I rather doubt that it was," Imakarum stated flatly. "Otherwise, none of the base would have been left standing; and we would have likely lost Lord Hamilcal as well."

"Indeed," Dr. Balkus said, nodding. "If there is nothing further to discuss; I will return to my laboratory. I still have a number of experiments to see to."

"We will take care of things here, Lord Hamilcal," Imakarum stated, inclining his head.

Dr. Balkus nodded and left the Celestial Hall. With Yukari Fukamachi back in his hands, and the attack by that accursed Gigantic Dark, it was all the more urgent that he finish at least the preliminary stages of the girl's processing. With the improvements that Alkanphel had planned, she would make a useful asset to Chronos.

The doors of the elevator slid open in front of him, then closed as he stepped inside and hit the button that would take him up the few levels that separated Dr. Balkus from his personal laboratory. The laboratory itself was in one of the least damaged sections of the facility; there would most likely be only a few of the janitorial staff working to clear the debris out of the room. Once he had arrived back in his laboratory, Dr. Balkus found that Yukari Fukamachi had already been placed on an operating table and fully restrained.

She had doubtless also been sedated again, a fact that Dr. Balkus ascertained from the slow and steady rate of her breathing. Injecting the virus; which Gustav had returned to him once the threat of annihilation had been discovered to be merely a ruse. Oh, it had been a rather clever ruse, perpetrated by someone with extensive experience in performing such things, but Dr. Balkus still wished that he had seen through it.

Still, that was in the past. What he was doing now would help to ensure that Chronos would suffer far less setbacks in the future. He would forge Yukari Fukamachi into a weapon capable of destroying the Guyvers and protecting the interests of Chronos.

She would become Chronos' sword and Alkanphel's shield; even as her compatriot Lady Mirabilis had been. Dr. Balkus was not known as the greatest of Chronos' scientists without good reason, after all.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The snow was beautiful, a blanket of pure white that stretched over the ground as far as she could see. It also gave Master and Mistress' footfalls a delightful crunching sound. But none of them were here to sightsee. They were here to meet with one of the soldiers who fought under their command to help free the world from Chronos.

"Good morning, Sir, Ma'am," the tall, blond man in glasses greeted as he came walking up to them through the snow. "And who is this?"

"My name is Shizu," she said, bowing her head politely. "Pleased to meet you, sir."

He nodded to her, then turned back to speak with Master and Mistress. "We've managed to find ourselves a suitable location," he said, as they crested the rise in front of them and came into sight of a large warehouse. "This place used to be a military transport hangar; of course, Chronos closed it down after they finalized their control. No one wanted to purchase it, so we could acquire it rather easily."

"Good work," Mistress Akane said. "What is this place operating as currently?"

"Our cover is that this place is a sawmill. However, since logging is for the most part discouraged, people will not be expecting us to be turning out wood products."

"That will make things rather convenient for us," Master Agito commented, taking in the sheer size of the building that they were inside. "We would be able to accommodate at least twenty processing-tanks in this place."

"Yes," Mistress Akane said. "Of course, we will perhaps need to manufacture a few token wood products; in the event that any suspicion were to be cast on this facility."

"That can easily be taken care of, Ma'am. We have also taken the liberty of ordering the parts to build the tanks. And the amniotic fluid will be easy for us to acquire."

"Good," Master Agito said, nodding once. "Incidentally, how is our guest behaving himself?"

"Rather well, now that he knows we have the vaccine necessary to sustain him," the soldier paused for a moment. "He also expressed an interest in speaking to both Shizu and miss Akane."

"Indeed?" Mistress Akane raised an eyebrow.

"Very well; I am certain I know what he wants to speak to Shizu about," Master Agito said, and Shizu had a feeling that she knew, too. She had volunteered for it, after all. "Akane, if you would accompany us?"

"Of course," Mistress said, following her and Master Agito as they left.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The driving wind and rain lashed the temple, _his_ temple, as Sayuri slept inside. Masaki had brought word that Luggnagg, Jabir and Kablarl had expressed an interest, and some rather pronounced enthusiasm, in attacking the Gigantic Guyver. He had told Masaki to give them permission on his behalf to do so, but also to watch them. Hamilcal may indeed have had a valid reason to suspect their motives.

_It seems that a storm is coming,_ Alkanphel mused. After Masaki had told him of the attack on Chronos' Arizona plant, the one that had been conducted by that traitorous Zeus utilizing the Gigantic armor, Alkanphel knew that it was all the more urgent for him to restore Sayuri to full health so that she could take her place within the Council again.

As the stone doors parted before him and he entered his inner sanctum, Alkanphel gazed upon his life-pod where Sayuri slept and recovered from her wounds. _Return to me soon, Sayuri. I would not think to replace you with Masaki. My pod will heal you; however, the damage to your Zoacrystal will take longer to repair than that which was done to your body._

Sighing, Alkanphel looked once again at Sayuri's damaged Zoacrystal. _Two months from this day, I will be forced to hibernate again. I wonder if you will be restored to me before that happens._ Alkanphel smiled slightly, as he recalled the reports that Hamilcal had given him. _You might find someone familiar waiting for you when you revive, Sayuri. I am certain that you will enjoy her company._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Deep within the Arizona headquarters of Chronos, within a processing-tank that had more elaborate equipment and monitoring devices attached to it, a lithe figure floated suspended in an amniotic-bath. The figure was the color of new grass, at least on most of its body. There was a large, helmet-like growth on the figure's head that was colored a much darker green, the back of which had started to sprout a pair of tentacles.

They were currently nothing more than stubs, but the genetic profiles for their growth had already been established. The eyes of the figure suspended in the tank started to pull themselves open slowly and laboriously, revealing pale yellow 'whites', yellow irises, and catlike black pupils. The fluid in the tank started to drain, and the green figure tilted its head back to look at the surface of the liquid as it fell ever closer to the bottom of the tank.

As the fluid in the tank drained out, the lithe green figure sank slowly to the bottom. At first, it seemed almost as if the figure would be able to stand on its feet, then gravity took over and the green figure sank slowly to its knees. Once the tank had been emptied of all its amniotic fluid, the subject inside was left lying on the bottom of the tank, looking for all the world like a doll that had been tossed aside once the owner had finished playing with it. The subject in the processing-tank was merely an enhanced Zoanoid, with slightly more than the level of sophistication that a Hyper Zoanoid possessed.

All of that was about to be changed, however.

Dr. Balkus strode forward as the body of the tank retracted into the floor. Lifting the enhanced-Zoanoid out of its resting-place, just as it had started to try sitting up, the Zoalord scientist carried it to an operating table and strapped it down. Fixing its head into place with a pair of clamps, Dr. Balkus removed a serrated scalpel – almost a small saw – from the tray of medical instruments he had set out for himself. Slicing into the forehead of the subject strapped to the table, Dr. Balkus used his telepathic powers to subdue it when it started to struggle.

The claws had not grown in yet, and the subject had none of the energy-manipulation abilities that it would possess once its processing had been completed. It would have been dangerous to any lesser Zoaform, but fortunately not to him. He was Chronos' foremost telepath, aside from Lord Alkanphel of course, and as such this subject would submit to his will.


	11. Dark Phoenix Ascendant

**Dark Phoenix Ascendant**

It had been a strange dream; a sad dream, and Hikari now knew just why it was that Lord Alkanphel had seemed so deeply troubled at those times when, after she had made reports on Chronos' progress to him, he thought of what was coming. Hikari also knew, and appreciated, just what she and her counterpart Imakarum meant to their Lord.

They were his family now, almost more so than any of the other Zoalords. Certainly more than most of the Zoanoids, who either could not comprehend or otherwise did not know of their master's glory. They would perhaps come to understand, but that was not her primary concern. She was simply here to serve the wishes of her master, Lord Alkanphel.

Of course, a great deal of serving her master's wishes entailed being able to move. The will was there, and her mind was functioning normally, her body simply would not obey her commands. And so she was trapped here, paralyzed and seemingly comatose, while her Zoacrystal regenerated from the damage that had been done to it by that little bastard Agito Makishima. Judging by the shattered feeling in her forehead, her Zoacrystal had not yet healed itself.

And so she remained here, resting in the pod where Lord Alkanphel had placed her to heal and revive. It was rather aggravating to be completely unable to move, but when she thought about what Lord Alkanphel had risked for her sake, she was very thankful for his consideration.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The Zoacrystal had been firmly set and fixed into the forehead of his newest creation, and now Balkus was setting the energy-amplifiers into the palms of his not-yet-fully-born Zoalord's hands. They would allow this new creation of his to channel the energy stored inside its body for a variety of effects, once the genetic enhancements had taken full effect. Which they would, after the final round of processing had been completed on this creature.

And that would be taken care of presently, with the second and last emitter placed in the palm of his new creation's hand.

Lifting the unconscious body of the Zoalord - Imakarum had given it the name Isis, acting on what he claimed were the wishes of Lady Mirabilis - Dr. Balkus carried it back to the processing-tank and set the creature down inside it, then he reattached the sensors to the important parts of his new Zoalord's body. Giving an order to his aides, Dr. Balkus waited as the body of the tank was fixed into place again and then he began to fill the processing-tank with a new batch of amniotic fluid.

There were new retro-viruses mixed into this batch of fluid, those that would finish the genetic reconstruction of this new Zoalord; this "Isis Mirabilis". He had already taken the precautions that Lord Alkanphel had recommended for the time that he would be in danger of re-entering his hibernation, and so there was no need for him to worry about Yukari Fukamachi's personality reasserting itself within Isis' mind when she was finally ready to be let loose.

Isis twitched briefly as the processing-tank, filled with its new and remixed batch of amniotic fluid, began to bubble with the oxygen that would keep Isis alive while she was being processed into Chronos' newest Zoalord.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When Agito Makishima walked into the large building that housed the processing-tanks that would be used to manufacture his newest and greatest troops, he paused for a moment to take them in. These new-generation Zoanoids of his; protected by their status as Lost Numbers and with one other asset that Chronos would never be expecting, were going to be the weapons that would give him further supremacy in his coming battles with Chronos.

_Speaking of weapons, I wonder what it is that Akane's been working on for so long._ Agito moved through the rows of processing-tanks, each holding their cargo of transforming soldiers, on his way to a meeting with Dr. Hekkaring. And a later one with Akane, to see what she had been doing while she had been here; whatever project she had been working on for so long, he wanted to know about it.

"There you are, Dr. Hekkaring," he greeted, walking up to the former Chronos scientist.

"I have already begun processing them," Hekkaring said, gesturing to the processing-tanks directly in front of him. "Using the data from the Japanese Lost Numbers, and some of my own modifications. I am quite certain that they will be superior to anything that Chronos has yet produced."

"Excellent work, doctor," Agito said admiringly, gazing at the figures in the processing-tanks once again.

"Thank you. All of the test results have been most promising; the majority of these troops will be ready within a month. And, we are already receiving new volunteers from the other cells in this area. The next group will be here in three weeks time, and then you can brief them on what to expect."

"Yes," Agito said, nodding as he considered the power that he would be bringing to bear against Chronos once these new Zoanoids of his, these Libertus, were completed. "And then my Thunderbolts will be on a level playing field with Chronos. Thank you again for all your hard work, Dr. Hekkaring."

"Mmm. To me it seems like madness. To voluntarily submit oneself to such a process as this. Of course, that is only if you were so kind as to inform the volunteers about what they would be in for once they underwent this process."

"What kind of a man do you take me for, doctor?"

"A ruthless one," Hekkaring said. "After all, it was you who loaded me onto the equipment container when you dared to rob the Arizona Headquarters of Chronos. And now, both you and that strange counterpart of yours dangle the vaccinations I need to survive over my head like cheese for a starving mouse."

"Speaking of Akane, have you seen her lately? She's been rather sporadic in contacting me of late."

"Your counterpart has been keeping herself busy with weapons research; she's developed some rather ingenious things in her time here. It almost makes me wonder which of you will ultimately prevail."

"What do you mean by that?" Agito turned toward Hekkaring, a slightly wary expression on his face.

"Surely you must have noticed by now that the woman harbors all of your ambitions; how long do you think that two such similar creatures as yourselves can coexist? How long do you think that Ms. Akane will be content to stand in your shadow, before she decides to turn some of those ingenious weapons of hers on you? I hear that she has been experimenting with particularly fast-acting poisons. And I've seen the delivery systems she's developed. There are very few things that would be able to resist the concentrated chemical weaponry that your counterpart will be able to unleash once her work is complete."

"Interesting. But be that as it may, I know myself at least well enough to deal with anything that she might have in mind."

"For your own sake, I hope that's true," Hekkaring paused, turning back to the processing-tanks that contained his Libertus Zoanoids. "In any case, it's not so much a concern of mine who commands this operation. I will serve the ambitions of either one of you Makishimas, if only to prove that I am the superior scientist over that monster Hamilcal Balkus."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Shizu sat on the examination table, finishing up the last of the stitches on Yukari's jacket. She'd been thinking about knitting Yukari a scarf that would match this jacket, since rainbow colors would not be the best match for a red jacket. Of course, that would have to wait until she had finished with her examination, and after that there was the matter of the request that Master Agito had made of her. She would fulfil it willingly, of course, especially since both Master Agito and Mistress Akane had been so very enthusiastic about that very thing.

And she would always strive to help them; it was what she had dedicated her life to doing.

But once she had been released from the processing-tank where she would be spending almost the next month of her life, Shizu decided that she would knit a scarf for Yukari. A pretty red scarf, to go with her jacket. After all, once Yukari had been freed from Chronos, she would be in poor shape and needing some comfort.

Despite the fact that there was nothing – _ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!_ – that Chronos could do that would permanently harm Yukari, it was certainly too much to ask for them to treat her well. She would have to help Yukari to get used to being free again; help her to adjust to the fact that Chronos would not be able to hurt her anymore.

All that remained was for Master and Mistress to find the place where Yukari was being held and rescue her. Shizu knew that they would; it would be only a matter of time before Yukari was free again. _Hold on a little while longer, Yukari-chan,_ Shizu prayed, even as she continued to sit and knit and wait for the doctor conducting her examination to arrive. _You'll be out of that horrible place soon. Master Agito and Mistress Akane will come to free you; I have faith in them._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As the fluid drained out of the processing-tank for the final time, Dr. Hamilcal Balkus stood and watched as the unconscious body of Isis Mirabilis sank to the bottom of the tank. Once the tank's main body had retracted fully into the base of the machinery that supported it, Dr. Balkus focused his telepathic power on the insensate form lying on the bottom of the processing-tank's exposed machinery.

He was then treated to the sight of Isis, newly awakened from her stasis, slowly and laboriously climbing back to her feet. The long, muscular tendrils attached to the base of her skull were briefly visible as they twitched. Taking firm control of his new creation's mind, Dr. Balkus ordered Isis Mirabilis to come to him.

This she did with the perfect obedience of a creature with no thoughts of her own. As Isis moved closer to him, Dr. Balkus watched her eyes for any signs that Yukari Fukamachi's personality was struggling to reassert itself within the mind of his creation. The blank, dazed look in the young, female Zoalord's eyes gave him reason to believe that the temporary modifications that he had made to the mind of his newest creation were holding.

One thing was for certain: the next six weeks were going to be rather interesting. Pushing the limits of Isis' abilities to find out if she was truly ready to take her place as an auxiliary Zoalord. With all of the modifications that he had made to her form, Isis would serve her intended purpose of providing support to the other Zoalords quite well. That is, once he knew that there were no further enhancements needed to make Isis a true asset to Chronos.

Ordering Isis to walk, Dr. Balkus took hold of his creation's shoulder and led her out of the laboratory. It was time to see just what this auxiliary Zoalord of his was capable of. Guiding Isis into the Proving Ground, Dr. Balkus left Isis where she stood and turned his attention to the Zoanoids within this level of the Arizona Headquarters. There would be an ample amount of Zoanoids for him to test Isis' power and skill against in this place. Well, perhaps not her skill, since one was required to have at least more than the barest rudiments of consciousness that Isis currently possessed before they would be considered skillful.

Still, he could quite easily test the power of his new creation against the Zoanoids that he had called to come to him. The large group of Zoanoids filed into the room, chattering away as they were wont to do when he or the other Zoalords did not maintain firm enough control over their actions. Of course, these Zoanoids were merely here to be fodder for him to test the power of little Isis Mirabilis. That was the only reason they were here now.

Just as the foremost Zoanoid in the group, a Gregole, turned as if to speak to him, Dr. Balkus took full control of Isis Mirabilis and set her on the attack. She was rather fast; faster than any of the Zoanoids now attempting to defend themselves from her. They were slow and painfully clumsy when compared to the lithe, slender form of Chronos' auxiliary Zoalord.

They were lying on the ground, wounded or dying from strikes inflicted by her sharp claws; their limbs and necks broken by the long, muscular tentacles attached to the base of her skull. Having seen enough of the auxiliary Zoalord's physical capabilities, Dr. Balkus turned his focus to Isis' energy-manipulation abilities. A single blast from her left palm burned through the chest of four Zoanoids, sending them crashing to the ground. The reaction time of his auxiliary Zoalord, judging from the way the nerves pulsed when he ordered her to move, was quite satisfyingly fast. Firing Isis' Crystal Laser, Balkus was pleased to note that the beam, even at low intensity, was enough to burn the heads off of six Zoanoids.

Once all of the twenty-five Zoanoids he had called into the Proving Ground had been killed, Dr. Balkus ordered Isis to come back to him. Once she was within his reach, Dr. Balkus took hold of her shoulder and led her back into the laboratory. There was one last modification that he wanted to make, more of an add-on than a necessary modification, but Isis would need to be returned to the processing-tank before he could make any changes to her biostructure.

Letting Isis fall once she stood on top of the monitoring machinery for the processing-tank, Dr. Balkus reattached the monitoring devices to her body and left to attend to Isis' final re-adjustments. When the body of the processing-tank was fixed into place again, Dr. Balkus started to create a new batch of retro-viruses to further modify the body of his newly-tested auxiliary Zoalord. Once that was done, he refilled the tank with amniotic fluid and left the room.

It would take at least four days for the new covering to grow, and in the mean time, he had other duties for Chronos to attend to.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

They hadn't called her just yet, and so Shizu had decided to get a head start on her knitting. The small scrap of red fabric that would eventually become Yukari-chan's new scarf was growing bigger with every stitch she made; just the way that all the things she had ever knitted did. _Maybe I should knit something for Master Agito, after I finish Yukari-chan's scarf. He's been working so hard lately._

Of course, Mistress Akane had been working very hard as well; but then she was always here at the compound, where Shizu was able to take care of her by bringing her food and making her bed. Master Agito always seemed to be away lately; Shizu knew that that was what he had to do, since Chronos was still powerful in Japan and he had to deal with them there. Sho was a kind boy, and he did a lot to protect his friends and people he didn't even know from Chronos, but the loss of Yukari had made him really depressed and worried.

Master Agito would find her, though; Shizu was sure of it. And then they could all continue fighting Chronos together. Even she herself could fight, after the modifications that Master Agito had suggested were made to her body had been finished. She would be able to take at least some of the burden of fighting Chronos and their Zoanoids off of Sho, and off of Yukari once Master Agito or Mistress Akane had freed her from her captivity at Chronos.

The clicking of her knitting needles almost reminded Shizu of the ticking of a clock, and as she continued to work on Yukari's scarf, Shizu wondered for a moment why she would think to connect two such dissimilar things. Then Dr. Hekkaring came in.

"Ms. Onuma, it's time."

"Yes, doctor," Shizu said calmly, setting her yarn, knitting needles, and the beginning of Yukari's scarf on top of a small table by the side of the bed she'd been sitting on. "I'm ready. May I ask you a favor, though?"

"What would you like me to do?"

"Would you take my things back to my room for me?"

"Of course; you'll be able to find your own way to the processing-tank, I trust?"

"Yes," Shizu nodded, thinking again of her vow to Master Agito and Mistress Akane: to help them and protect them however she could.

As she made her way toward the processing-tank where she would be staying for the next month, if not a few days more, Shizu started to remove her coat. Dr. Hekkaring had been very clear about the fact that she could not wear clothes while she was being processed. And judging from all of the things that Master Agito and Mistress Akane had talked about during the times they had mentioned Chronos' processing facilities, not to mention all of the soldiers who were being processed, that was very clear.

As she folded her coat and set it down on a cart, one that Dr. Hekkaring had doubtless provided for her to use, Shizu started to unbutton her shirt. As she slowly undressed, leaving her clothes on the wheeled cart that Dr. Hekkaring had provided for her to use, Shizu thought again about what she would do once she had the power that her new form was going to provide her. Help Master and Mistress in their battles against Chronos, and with their rescue of Yukari, of course.

Still, there might be other things that she would have to do, once she had been fully processed. Master Agito had said that this new form of hers, he had called it Griselda, would be used as a shield against the telepathic powers of Chronos' own Zoalords. She was about to become something of a Zoalord herself; though perhaps Zoa_lord_ was something of a misnomer, Zoa_lady_ might be a bit more appropriate for what she was going to become.

Thinking on that name, though, brought up thoughts of another woman who had undergone processing very similar to that which Shizu herself was about to undergo. It was truly tragic, what had happened to Ms. Murakami. And to Mr. Murakami too, now that Shizu thought about it. Having their minds altered so radically that they now fought against the people they had been trying to protect for so long... it must have hurt them. Hurt them so much that they had gone insane just trying to escape from the pain.

That was really the only way to explain the way they acted now. Shizu shivered, suddenly feeling like a ghost had touched the back of her neck. _Please. Please let Yukari be all right when we find her._ But that was silly; Yukari was fine... well, maybe 'fine' was too gentle a word to describe someone who had been captured by Chronos, but there was nothing too drastic that they could do to someone like Yukari.

Certainly nothing that couldn't be helped with a warm bowl of soup and a new scarf and matching jacket. Right? Right.

Her resolve newly rekindled, and the last of her clothes removed and set neatly on the cart that had been provided for her, Shizu started to climb up the ladder leading to the open top of the processing-tank. Once she was at the top, Shizu carefully climbed down into the tank and dropped down to the bottom, crouching to lessen the impact as she landed.

There were monitoring devices hanging down inside the tank, those of the kind that someone would be likely to see in an actual hospital, and Shizu began to attach them to herself. Mistress Akane had volunteered to assist her with this, but Shizu hadn't wanted to disturb her from the work that she had been doing. Mistress Akane, since she had been unable to use the armor of the Gigantic, had taken to designing weapons for herself.

Some of them had even been mass-produced; which meant that the other soldiers would be able to use them. Though Mistress had built them to be more suited for use by a Guyver, with the enhancements that were being made to the soldiers under their command, the others would doubtless be able to use them just as well as Mistress Akane would have. Once she had finished attaching the last of the medical monitors to her body, Shizu looked up to see that Dr. Hekkaring had arrived.

He nodded at her briefly, just before the tank around her started to fill with clear fluid that had only the slightest green tinge. Shizu breathed slowly and deeply, preparing herself for the time when the fluid inside the processing-tank would inevitably close over her head. She knew that she would still be able to breathe once the amniotic fluid had filled the processing-tank to capacity.

This was the same setup that Chronos used to process their own combat Zoanoids, even down to the mixture of the amniotic fluid in the tanks that they were using. Chronos' Zoanoids did not need to use any breathing equipment to keep them alive, so there was no reason that Master Agito's Zoanoids would need to use such things either.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The month had passed rather quickly, or at least it had seemed to, what with the testing of Isis Mirabilis that he had been doing and the few modifications that he had had to make. The outer covering that he had designed to cover her was working out quite well, providing her with both a camouflage element and a way of absorbing most energy attacks that could be thrown at her. The disguise element would also provide something of a psychological advantage, due to the fact that he had not done anything to drastically change the appearance of the girl's face.

Isis Mirabilis would be very easily recognizable to anyone who had known Yukari Fukamachi, if they were somehow able to get close enough to remove the covering over her face. Lord Imakarum had commented that Isis looked rather like a Ninja with the covering in place. This assessment, while it had not been particularly informative, had been true. Isis' form, covered nearly from head-to-toe in dark green, biologically engineered energy-absorbing mesh, did indeed resemble the images that Dr. Balkus had seen of those humans.

Only Isis' eyes and a small strip of flesh around them were visible now, every other part was covered; either by the mesh or by the bony plate at the top of her head. The plate would provide extra protection for Isis' vulnerable head; unfortunately, there was no way to protect her Zoacrystal without making it less effective. Both as a weapon and as a telepathic receiver. He would just have to use her in such a way that none of her enemies would be able to get close enough to do her the kind of harm such as that which had been done to Lady Hikari Mirabilis.

Thinking of that woman almost made Dr. Balkus contact her counterpart, just so he would be able to see what condition the woman herself was in at the moment. He forbore, though; Imakarum had not seemed overly stressed or worried, which Dr. Balkus knew would have been the case if Lady Hikari's condition had been deteriorating. Indeed, the male version of Chronos' Twelfth Zoalord seemed calm and rather pleased, something that Dr. Balkus took to indicate that his counterpart's condition was stable and improving.

The stray thoughts that he had been able to pick up from Imakarum's mind, relating to both the state of Yukari Fukamachi's transformation into Isis Mirabilis and her relation to the still-incapacitated Lady Hikari Mirabilis had been enough of an indicator for Dr. Balkus to determine the state of Imakarum's counterpart. He had since lost most of his interest in finding out where the doubles of Agito Makishima, Sho Fukamachi and Chronos' own Imakarum Mirabilis had come from.

With Yukari Fukamachi in his hands, and now fully remade into Chronos' youngest Zoalord Isis Mirabilis, it would be a simple matter to deal with Sho Fukamachi. All that would be required was for him to wait until Lord Alkanphel had been able to regain his full strength and thus return the young woman to some semblance of consciousness. With Fukamachi's weak-willed compassion, the mere sound of Isis' voice would be enough to dissuade him from attacking.

Such would not be true for Makishima and his counterpart, however, and so that was where Isis' battle prowess would be her salvation. Isis was capable of manipulating large amounts of energy with finer precision and control than any of the other Zoalords that he had yet designed. It was, after all, her intended purpose: to support and heal the Zoalords of Chronos on the off chance that they were to be injured during the course of performing their assigned duties.

It was not something that Dr. Balkus considered to be a particularly likely outcome; still, needs must. And Isis Mirabilis would still be of great value to Chronos even if she was never called upon to perform her intended function. The psychological advantage that Chronos would gain from her appearance alone would be worth the time and resources used to process her.

Sho Fukamachi would not be able to fight Isis Mirabilis, for the same reason that he had proved completely unable to do battle with Imakarum Mirabilis: Sho Fukamachi was a weak-willed, sentimental little fool.


	12. Demigoddess' Healing Touch

**Demigoddess' Healing Touch**

Imakarum had gotten the reports from the Japan Section; he didn't believe a word of them, but he had them. Sho was simply too much of a sentimentalist to ever go on a rampage and attack innocent bystanders as the reports stated this "Guyver Gigantic" was doing. Lord Fried'rich had gone to investigate, to see if the reports were truthful or not; even in spite of the fact that Imakarum had told him flat-out that there was not a chance that Sho Fukamachi could be behind these attacks.

He knew the boy too well to ever think that he would have been capable of such a brutal, ruthless assault as this. Agito and Akane Makishima, they were the ones who would have the drive to do something such as this. They were the ones who would be all too willing to sacrifice the lives of innocent civilians in their quest for revenge. If the reports had been of the Dark Gigantic causing this kind of havoc, then Imakarum would have been willing to give them credence.

But Sho Fukamachi was not a person who would do such things.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Isis had been returned to her processing-tank, to be infused with the energy that she would need to perform her duties as Chronos' auxiliary Zoalord. The repairs to the Arizona base, while they were proceeding along nicely were also merely cosmetic in nature. Still, the fact remained that nothing else had gone wrong and business at this branch of Chronos was proceeding well.

It was a blessed moment of peace; and Dr. Balkus was grateful for it.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Waiting for Lord Fried'rich to make the expected report; that Sho Fukamachi had not been involved in the attack at all and that some confused citizen had somehow managed to mistake the Dark Gigantic for his gold counterpart, had become rather tedious. Still, Imakarum had promised Lord Fried'rich that he would lend his support in this endeavor, and if that meant that he would have to stay at Cloud Gate while Lord Fried'rich was likely dealing with one of the Makishimas, then he was going to do just that.

Even if the very _idea_ of doing such bored him out of his skull.

Rising from his seat to pace the length of the room again, Imakarum resisted the urge to contact Lord Fried'rich and request an update. The news would have been useless, even if he had had any inclination to listen to the petty views of humans on what one of the Lords of Chronos was doing. Humans would have not been allowed into the areas where they would be able to see any of the battle between Lord Fried'rich and the Dark Gigantic. There would be some pretext for the restriction, of course. Something the humans would believe and abide by.

Sitting back in his chair and reading over the breeding manifests that he had brought for himself, Imakarum kept his mind open for any contact from Lord Fried'rich. Even a request for assistance; as unlikely as that was.

The Zoanoid models being developed in this Section were fairly standard, nothing particularly notable. There were precious few Hyper Zoanoids being developed, either because sufficiently compatible humans had not been found, or because Lord Fried'rich had not been interested in taking the time for such advanced Zoaforms to be selected and then processed. With the increase in the number and ferocity of the attacks by Guyver III and his counterpart, that would have to change.

Hyper Zoanoids had a far better chance of surviving a battle with a Guyver than Standard Zoanoids. Since Akane never seemed to be the one to wield the power of the Gigantic Dark in combat, instead relying on the weapons that she now carried into battle. They seemed to be merely enhanced versions of the weapons that human soldiers were known to carry with them. Admittedly useful against mere Standard Zoanoids, they would doubtless prove to be useless against the enhanced bodies of Hyper Zoanoids.

Sensing a sudden, powerful energy surge, Imakarum looked up from the breeding manifest and focused his mind. It seemed that Lord Fried'rich had decided to transform; an understandable choice, given the fact that he was most likely facing Agito Makishima's Dark Gigantic. Lord Fried'rich would need all the power he could bring to bear to be able to force Agito Makishima to heel.

Imakarum could feel the distortions and instabilities in the local weather patterns that had been created by Lord Fried'rich's power; as he brought gargantuan lightning bolts crashing down on the head of the Dark Gigantic. Agito Makishima would rue the day he had ever decided to take up arms against Chronos.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

In Washington State, on a low hillside just two miles away from the U.S.A. Third Operations Plant, the main force of the Zeus Thunderbolt resistance group was waiting.

"This is the headquarters of Chronos; their 'Pillars of Heaven'," Akane informed the large group of soldiers that had gathered around her, Agito and Shizu. "Under which you can see their protectorate: the Third Operations Plant."

"Our objective here is the complete and utter destruction of this base!" Agito shouted, his strong voice carrying over the assembled ranks of their soldiers in the same way that Akane's own had. "We will show Chronos the power of the Thunderbolts! _Go_!"

Their forces charged down the hillside; men on a mission to destroy the Chronos base that stood in front of them. Akane, Agito and Shizu watched as their forces ripped into the defending Zoanoids, scattering them like frightened mice and killing more than a few.

It was quite a thing to witness.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Imakarum, having long since grown accustomed to the power fluctuations generated by Lord Fried'rich's battle with the Dark Gigantic, was continuing to read up on the Zoanoid models that were being produced by this branch of Chronos. Lord Fried'rich would contact him if there was any need of his presence in the battle. Imakarum was certain of that.

Sitting back in his chair again, Imakarum sensed a brief flash of apprehension from Lord Fried'rich. Standing up and focusing, not wanting to contact his fellow Lord on the chance that he was in a pitched battle and needed all of his concentration, Imakarum sensed that Lord Fried'rich was doing rather well in his battle. There was a distinct air of satisfaction about him; he had not yet won his battle, but Lord Fried'rich seemed truly confident in his ability to do so.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The reports of the attack on Chronos' Third Operations Plant in Washington state had been rather disquieting, but the reports that the attack had been made by Zoanoids was even more disturbing. The visuals of the attack, with those new Zoanoids crushing the skulls and tearing the limbs of his own Zoanoids, were rather gruesome. Still, there was a very simple way to deal with invading Zoanoids.

And such advanced Zoaforms as these would be _very_ useful to Chronos' goals.

He was currently in the process of mollifying the currant base commander for the Third Operations Plant. The Hyper Zoanoid, who was acting as interim commander for the Third Operations Plant while Shin was trying to ascertain the motives of the three Zoalords who had expressed such an interest in attacking the Gigantic Guyver, was rightfully worried about the group of new and powerful Zoanoids that were attacking the Third Operations Plant.

Still, even if they were somehow resistant to telepathy, these new Zoanoids would not be able to resist his telepathy once it had been amplified by the equipment in the basement. This was what he explained to the interim commander of the Third Operations Plant. And, even now, he was heading toward the basement.

Those foolish, rebellious Zoanoids would not be able to continue their senseless rampage for very much longer.

"Activate the Amplifier!" Dr. Balkus ordered.

The Zoanoids under his command rushed to carry out his orders, and soon the Amplifier was activated and humming. Sitting on the throne in the center of the Generator, Dr. Balkus focused his mind on the attacking Zoanoids. Tapping into their minds was proving to be rather difficult, however.

_-So you still think to resist my telepathy, eh? Well not for much longer. You will cease your senseless violence and kneel!-_

There was no reaction from the attacking Zoanoids, save for the fact that most of them continued their savage rampage. _-I said you will kneel!-_

Still nothing, and now Dr. Balkus could sense that there was another presence shielding the minds of these Zoanoids, and presumably commanding them as well. It felt like there was another Zoalord here now; but that was impossible. The Council, of which he was a prominent part, were the only Zoalords in existence, and all of them were loyal to Chronos.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Fried'rich was honestly shocked at all the destruction that had been caused, not by his own attacks but by Sho Fukamachi. All of this was something that he had believed only Agito or Akane Makishima was capable of doing. But the swathe of destruction that had been carved through his protectorate city was obvious evidence to the contrary.

Even in spite of what Imakarum had said; and now this other had showed up. Aptom; the one who had been causing so much damage to Chronos, literally _eating_ the Zoanoids that they had created. And now he seemed to have allied himself with the Guyver. Although, his latest words did make it seem as if he had no real affection for the Guyver named Sho Fukamachi.

Which made Fried'rich all the more curious as to why this Lost Number was aiding the Guyver at all. It was a strange situation, to be sure, but that was not the foremost thing on Fried'rich's mind at this time. What he was most concerned about was protecting himself and his people from the Gigantic Guyver.

The same Gigantic Guyver that had just told Aptom that he would beat Fried'rich with his bare hands.

"Do not underestimate me, Guyver! I am far stronger than the Zoanoids you have been murdering so callously! I will show you my true power, and you will know the folly of your arrogance!"

Fried'rich fired a powerful blast of electrical energy from the crystal-emitter set into the center of his chest. A blast that, unfortunately, both Aptom and the Gigantic Guyver managed to dodge. Though, in the case of the Gigantic Guyver, not entirely. Fried'rich was gratified that his attack had not gone entirely to waste, and so decided to take further advantage of the situation.

Still, the fact that the boy had managed to wound him rather severely with that gravity-enhanced punch of his - in spite of the fact that most of the force of the blow had been diluted by his own attack - was disconcerting to the Zoalord of Lightning. There was a chance that he would not be able to finish this battle alone. Still, Lord Imakarum had volunteered to act as his backup for this mission. There was a comfort to be found in the presence of the Zoalord of Gravity, even if it was only _in potentia_.

"You will not escape your crimes so lightly, Guyver," Fried'rich growled, enraged all over again that he had been so easily deceived by Sho Fukamachi's facade of gentleness and docility. "If you continue to attack me, I will electrocute you!"

The Lost Number, Aptom, warned the Gigantic Guyver of his impending attack. Fried'rich was able to sense the boy's retaliatory attack and then to deflect and absorb the infrared laser with the lower half of his right arm. Then he was forced to raise his force-shield quickly to intercept a sudden thrust by the Gigantic Guyver's elongated Vibration Blade. The Gigantic Guyver seemed rather surprised by this action, despite the fact that Fried'rich knew the boy had faced Imakarum and Hikari Mirabilis several times before.

Fried'rich fired his Crystal Laser, shearing off the Vibration Blades on both arms of the Gigantic Guyver. This action provoked the Gigantic into a foolish, reckless charge directly at him. And that gave him the opportunity to reinforce his shield to withstand any further attacks that the Gigantic Guyver might try to launch against him.

Especially given his obviously weakened condition.

When the Gigantic Guyver slammed his fist into Fried'rich's force-shield, the energy of it crackling and sparking against his knuckles, Fried'rich watched as the small orbs on the Gigantic Guyver's knuckles were severely damaged by the energy that had been channeled through them.

"Now you are not only unable to utilize your barrier, but that right arm of yours is useless as well," Fried'rich said, his arms still crossed in front of his chest to maintain the necessary circuit for the force-shield that he was using to defend himself. "In your present condition you will not ever be able to destroy my force-shield, Guyver."

"I may not be able to use my right arm for any attacks, but it still _works_!" Sho Fukamachi shouted, diving at him with his right fist outstretched as if to strike. "And you can't use your lightning attack if you're busy defending yourself with that barrier!"

The crackle of energy against the Gigantic Guyver's fist as the boy slammed his damaged hand further into Fried'rich's barrier was a disconcerting thing for the Zoalord of Lightning to witness. It was as if the boy had no care for his own physical health anymore.

"I said that you would not be able to destroy my force-shield with your bare hands; and yet you continue to try. Have you no _sense_? You cannot destroy my force-shield with mere physical attacks!"

"At least- I can try," the Guyver panted, large jets of steam shooting from the facial vents in his helmet. "It's all I can do, after you slaughtered so many innocent people just to lure me here!"

"_What_?" Fried'rich was taken aback.

The anger that the boy was displaying seemed genuine; more than that, all of the reports on Sho Fukamachi that he had been privileged to read - including the psychological evaluations - indicated that the boy was not one to take the killing of innocent civilians lightly. So perhaps there was more to this situation than Fried'rich had at first suspected. Still, there would be time to find out later, when he was not involved in a struggle for his life.

"I can _never_ forgive you for what you did! I'll kill you with my bare hands if I have to!"

So saying, Sho slammed his fist into Fried'rich's force-shield. And, as Fried'rich watched in horrified astonishment, he tore through it entirely. What was this boy, that he could break a Zoalord's defenses even with as much damage as he had taken?

And what was he, that he could still fight on in spite of his damaged state?

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Dr. Balkus gritted his teeth in annoyance. These new Zoanoids; still attacking in spite of the fact that he had just commanded them to stop; in spite of the fact that he was Chronos' second most powerful telepath; in spite of the fact that the Amplifier in Chronos Arizona made his telepathic powers strong enough to fully control even a mere human, were thoroughly infuriating him. He had thought briefly of having Isis transported to Washington so that she would be able to participate in the battle, but by the time she arrived, it would more than likely be over. Still, he might perhaps have a use for Chronos' auxiliary Zoalord.

However, there would be time for such things as he was considering after these defiant Zoanoids had been subdued. And subduing them would entail finding out just who was protecting these Zoanoids from his telepathic power. And there had to be someone, Dr. Balkus knew, even Lost Numbers would have been bowing before his will with the amount of power he was using.

_-You! Who the devil are you?!-_

_-I am Griselda.-_

_-Griselda?! How could another Zoalord have been created without my knowing about it?!-_

_-You don't know everything that goes on in this world. I command these Libertus – Zoanoids free from any of your controls – in the name of Gigantic Dark and Guyver III. They are the ones who will rule this world. Not you; and not Chronos.-_

Dr. Balkus hissed in frustration, taking firm hold of Isis Mirabilis' mind and forcing her to teleport to his location. Grasping Isis' head firmly in both his hands as she knelt in front of his seat, Dr. Balkus activated her telepathic powers and used them to boost his own. This was something that was possible only because Isis currently had no thoughts, no will, of her own.

That enabled him to use Isis as an extension of the Amplifier; using her telepathic powers to further assault this 'Griselda' who was causing him so much trouble. It almost made Dr. Balkus regret that Isis was eventually going to be restored to consciousness when Lord Alkanphel returned to full health.

Isis was almost more useful this way.

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Fried'rich knew that it was only a matter of time before his barrier collapsed; he knew that his own energy would only hold out for a short time. The Gigantic Guyver, damaged though it was, did not seem to be overly concerned with the damage done to it. Fried'rich now knew that Sho Fukamachi was operating out of a very strong, if misplaced, sense of rage.

Still, when the Gigantic Guyver crashed through his force-shield, and beyond that when the boy managed to knock him over, Fried'rich was shocked. Not so much by the Gigantic Guyver's ferocity, but by the fact that the boy had managed to destroy his force-shield.

But, as the crushing blow slammed into his gut, Fried'rich found that he had no more time to think about things like that. Fried'rich spasmed, feeling more pain than could have come from simply being punched by the weakened Gigantic Guyver. As he gagged, coughing up some of his own blood, Fried'rich realized that this damage had been done a while ago.

It had most likely been when both he and the Gigantic Guyver fired at one another simotainiously. Fried'rich had seen his own lightning bolt connect with the Gigantic Guyver, but he had thought that the boy's retaliatory attack had been deflected. Apparently not.

"I had thought to avoid this," Fried'rich said, coughing as more blood bubbled up in his throat. "Still, I will not resign myself to defeat so easily, Guyver."

"Give up, Purg'stall! You can't win in that state! You might have tried to lure me here with that Hyper Zoanoid disguised as a fake Gigantic, but you're not going to get away with it!"

_A fake Gigantic?_ "That was not any plan of mine," Fried'rich panted, the pain of his injuries starting to make him light-headed.

"Don't _lie_ to me! I know that only Chronos would have the resources to make a Hyper Zoanoid that could imitate the Gigantic! And only Chronos would be evil enough to kill all those innocent people just to lure me out here!"

_A Hyper Zoanoid designed to look like the Gigantic Guyver? Then... could this have all been set up to lure the both of us to this place? But why?_

When Fried'rich saw Aptom collapse, a rather large hole blown through his torso, Fried'rich wondered just who it was that had come to his aid.

"You seem to be in quite a difficult situation, Brother."

The voice was one that Fried'rich recognized very quickly; it was the voice of Luggnagg De Krumeggnik. What was he doing here? Were he and his three fellow Lords truly here to offer their assistance? And if so, why had they not deigned to show themselves at the beginning rather than the end of this battle?

"Kablarl? Luggnagg? Jabir? Why have you three come here?"

"What kind of silly question is that?" Jabir asked, tilting his head slightly in the manner reminiscent of a bird. "Do you think that you even need ask for help from your fellow Lords after that disaster at Yokohama?"

"I suppose that your assistance would be beneficial-"

"Then the matter is settled," Kablarl said firmly. "Rest yourself, Lord Purg'stall; you've fought bravely, now let _us_ finish this Guyver."

"Listen to me, Guyver Gigantic," Luggnagg said forcefully, pointing at the injured boy. "Now that the three of us have arrived, you have no chance of winning this battle! Prepare to die, Guyver Gigantic!"

Breathing slowly and deeply to take his mind off of his injuries, even as he could feel his body working to heal them, Fried'rich began to see a most unusual sight; the Gigantic Guyver seemed to be struggling with something. It was as if he could no longer hold himself together, or maybe as if he could no loner hold himself upright?

When the armor of the Gigantic literally burst off, reforming into an empty husk and then disappearing inside a cocoon behind the boy who had once been wearing it, Fried'rich was honestly shocked. What had happened, that Sho Fukamachi had not been able to keep control of the Gigantic? Judging by his body language, this was not something that the boy had intended to happen at all.

Luggnagg laughed harshly. "I don't know what you thought you would accomplish, removing the Gigantic armor, but now you have no chance against the three of us!"

"Now all that remains is for us to decide how to kill this boy," Kablarl practically cackled.

Aptom, though he was still obviously injured and exhausted by the battle, stepped in front of Sho to protect him. Something that Fried'rich had not been expecting; certainly not with the animosity that the Lost Number had been displaying earlier. It was an odd situation, to be sure.

His fellow Lords obviously thought the same, judging by the expressions on their faces. Of course now that Aptom, injured as he was, was trying to stand in defence of Guyver I things were liable to become more complicated. Aptom and Sho Fukamachi were speaking in low tones to one another, low enough that Fried'rich couldn't hear what they were saying.

"And what do you two think you're doing?" Jabir mocked. "Praying for salvation, maybe?"

"I got your _salvation_ right here, bastard!"

Even as the Lost Number said this, Fried'rich could see that his entire biomass was starting to undergo a startling change. Aptom seemed to be transmuting himself into a massive collection of biomissles.

"They're being created from every part of his body!"

For a moment, Luggnagg sounded as unnerved as Fried'rich himself felt. Then Jabir spoke, his voice calm and assured as it always seemed to be.

"It will be a simple matter to maintain our shields, even with this nuisance assaulting us."

Indeed, all of the missiles at Aptom had created were detonating against the force-shield that his three fellow Lords were maintaining. Fried'rich himself was still too weak from his earlier exertion to be of any use in helping to maintain the shield, but that did not mean that he was blind. He could see Aptom's body slowly coming apart, disintegrating as he used his remaining physical mass to generate a seemingly unending barrage of biological missiles.

Fried'rich could hear the derision in the voices of his fellow Lords as they spoke, but he himself was far more preoccupied with astonishment at the fact that Aptom - one who had seemed to have no real affection for the boy named Sho Fukamachi - would sacrifice his own existence to protect that very person. It did not make any sense at all. When Aptom vanished, his entire physical form consumed by the physical transmutation he had forced on himself, Fried'rich stared in shock at the devastation left behind.

"This is not possible!" Jabir exclaimed. "The missiles were a part of his own body! How could he have escaped while he was firing them at us?! And without leaving a trace behind?!"

Fried'rich suspected that he knew the answer to that, but it was not something that he felt he could explain to the others in his weakened condition. He sensed it when Kablarl left, though, and he wondered what had drawn the other Zoalord away. Guyver I had disappeared by now as well, though Fried'rich had seen him tunneling into the ground and so he knew how the boy had managed to escape.

Time would tell if Aptom was dead or had truly managed to escape somehow.

"I captured Aptom," Kablarl said, as he floated serenely back down to where the three of them were gathered.

_Perhaps less time than I thought,_ Fried'rich mused, catching sight of the stone statue that had once been Aptom.

"It troubles me that we were unable to capture Guyver I," Luggnagg said, looking to the sky despite the fact that Fried'rich had seen Sho escape underground.

Perhaps Luggnagg had not seen that due to all the dust.

"His escape is of very little consequence," Kablarl said calmly, displaying the frozen form of Aptom like a trophy. "We will be able to lure him back with more attractive bait."

_Lure him? the way you thought to lure him to this place with a Hyper Zoanoid disguised as the Gigantic?_ Fried'rich tried very hard not to make any sudden moves, as an abrupt and very unpleasant suspicion burst forth in his mind. _Perhaps the Guyver boy was not the only target of their manipulation._

"You would think to use the corpse of someone that boy considers a friend to lure him to his death?" There was no reaction from any of the three. "Would you also think to lure me here as well?!"

This time, the only reaction Fried'rich received was a smirk from Luggnagg. That was not something that reassured him. And then Luggnagg was _moving_, and _**firing**_-

_-Imakarum! I need--_ but the pain was too much for him to form and transmit the rest of his thought.

He would only have to hope that Imakarum would come...

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Imakarum stood, swiftly enough that he almost knocked the chair he had been sitting in sprawling across the room. He had been given all of the information that he needed. Lord Fried'rich had been in enough distress that Imakarum was able to track his mental signal and teleport to his location.

When he arrived at the scene, Imakarum saw Lord Fried'rich lying in a pool of his own blood, a large hole blown in his mid-chest area. Lords Shin, Kablarl, Luggnagg and Jabir were gathered around the body, although none of them seemed to be at their best. Imakarum was rather shocked at the sight himself; if it had not been for the fact that Imakarum could sense the fact that Lord Fried'rich was very close to losing his life, Imakarum would have probably been there in shock with his fellow Lords.

"Excuse me," he said calmly, moving to pick up the insensate form of Lord Fried'rich.

"What are you doing, Imakarum?" Lord Shin asked, sounding startled and disapproving in equal measures.

"I'm taking Lord Fried'rich to the Arizona Headquarters. Lord Hamilcal has," here Imakarum paused for a moment, considering his choice of words carefully. "A special treatment that will restore him to full health in a very short time."

"Now Imakarum, there is no need to try and offer false hope to our dear Shin," Jabir said, sounding slightly uncomfortable.

With Lord Fried'rich settled in his arms, Imakarum was eager to be on his way. "It's not false," he muttered absently, as he focused and teleported both himself and his precious cargo to the Arizona Headquarters.

_-Lord Hamilcal, bring Isis!-_ Imakarum called, as he teleported to the Arizona Headquarters_. -Lord Fried'rich is badly injured,-_ Imakarum turned in mid-thought, sensing the arrival of two more Zoalords in the room with him.

"Yes, I sensed that you were in a great deal of distress," Lord Hamilcal said, sounding rather distressed himself. "In any case, this is what Isis was developed for; it is time she proved her worth."

The blank, staring eyes of Isis Mirabilis showed no reaction as Lord Hamilcal moved her into position, taking hold of her hands and setting them down on the sides of Lord Fried'rich's grievous wound. Isis' Zoacrystal, and then her entire body, began to pulse with energy; and as Imakarum stepped forward to watch, the wound began to close.

"His lifesigns are stable," Imakarum said calmly, checking the readings of the monitors he had attached to Lord Fried'rich. "And his wound is healing rather quickly. Good work, Doctor; your creation is performing incredibly well."

"I suspected she would perform as such," Lord Hamilcal said, as Imakarum continued to watch the wound. "I put a great deal of work into this latest creation. It is gratifying to see that the work I put into her is paying off so well."

Imakarum nodded, already more focused on Lord Fried'rich's wound than on anything else. It was strange- the Guyver would have doubtless been facing Lord Fried'rich from the front. But the wound on the chest of the Zoalord of Lightning was very odd; it almost looked like an exit wound. And Lord Fried'rich was not one who would turn his back on any enemy as dangerous as a Guyver.

But the wound was clearly an exit wound. An exit wound on the _front_ of his body. That could only mean- The arrival of another Zoalord temporarily distracted Imakarum from his pondering, and he turned to see that Lord Shin was the one who had distracted him.

"Imakarum I- who is he? And what is he doing to Fried'rich?"

"_She_ is healing his wounds," Imakarum said calmly. "It will take some time for her to restore Lord Fried'rich to full heath, but he will be quite well when she finishes."

"She?"

"Yes," Imakarum nodded, turning to look over his shoulder at Lord Shin as his fellow Lord came to stand at Lord Fried'rich's side with him. "Her name is Isis Mirabilis."

"Mirabilis?" The surprise in Lord Shin's voice was very understandable. "Is she your daughter?"

"In a manner of speaking," Imakarum smiled, gently resting his hand on Isis' left shoulder. "She was Yukari Fukamachi, at one time. But that was before Lady Hikari managed to bring her to Chronos. Now she is Isis Mirabilis, Chronos' youngest Zoalord."


	13. Dark Lady's Awakening

****

Dark Lady's Awakening

When he arrived back at the house, the one that sheltered and protected all of them from Chronos, all he could think was that he had just failed Aptom the same way he'd failed Yukari; the same way he'd failed his father. Was there _anyone_ that he could really protect?

Any person that he had actually managed to keep out of the battles between him and Chronos? He hadn't managed to save Tetsuro and Mizuki; the only reason they were staying in this isolated place was because his enemies had tried to hurt them for what they meant to him. Hurt them for being close to him.

As he collapsed in Tetsuro's arms, the worried voices of those closest to him fading out as he lost consciousness, Sho wondered if he would ever be able to keep the remaining people he was close to safe.

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As the last part of the wound that would have likely ended Lord Fried'rich's life sealed itself closed with Isis' help, Imakarum considered again what he had seen. The large wound - an _exit_ wound; he was sure of it - could not have been made by anyone who had been standing in front of the Zoalord of Lightning. That only left those who had been standing behind.

Was such a thing even _possible_?

"Lord Shin, what was the condition of Lord Fried'rich when you found him?"

"He was lying on his back, covered in blood," Lord Shin paused for a moment, seemingly overcome. "There was a large hole in his chest; which you must have seen when you rescued him."

"Was there anyone standing directly behind him?" Imakarum pressed, even as Isis laid her hand on the small gash that was all that was left of Lord Fried'rich's wound and closed it with a last application of energy.

"Why do you ask?" Lord Shin sounded shocked, and Imakarum didn't blame him for being so affected.

He himself could hardly believe that he was making these accusations in reference to another Zoalord. Still, if what he had observed when Isis had started healing Lord Fried'rich turned out to be what he suspected it was - what he was almost _certain_ it was - then there was yet another traitor among the ranks of the Twelve Zoalords.

"If you two will excuse me for a moment," Imakarum turned; Lord Hamilcal was wearing a mildly annoyed expression. "I must see to the repairs of this facility. Imakarum, be sure to take Isis back to the processing-tank when you finish with her."

"Of course, Lord Hamilcal," Imakarum said, inclining his head respectfully. "I will see to it that Isis is taken care of."

Lord Hamilcal turned away without another word after that, leaving Imakarum alone with Isis, Lord Shin and the now-peacefully sleeping Lord Fried'rich. "I would like to thank you, Lady Isis, for all that you have done for Chronos," Lord Shin said. "And for myself." Imakarum looked over to where Lord Shin stood, trying apparently to speak to Isis. "Imakarum, is there something wrong with Lady Isis? She doesn't seem to be able to understand what I am saying."

"I rather doubt she has the mental capacity to understand anything right now," Imakarum said, stepping over to lay his left hand on Isis' shoulder as he started to lead her away.

"What?"

"Lord Hamilcal was forced to make extensive modifications to her mind," Imakarum said, wincing imperceptibly as he remembered what Lord Hamilcal had done to the girl. It had been necessary, yes, but it was still rather unpleasant to remember. He had come in on the end of the process; hearing Yukari's screams as her mind was telepathically cored out. Perhaps even _physically_ cored out; Imakarum hadn't taken the time to learn the specifics of what had been done to the girl.

It was enough for him to know that she was not going to cause any more trouble for Chronos. Although, he had heard from Lord Hamilcal later that the girl would be restored to full consciousness once Lord Alkanphel was well enough to fully reshape her mind. That would be a good day; when Yukari Fukamachi was fully welcomed into Chronos as a Zoalord. Rather, when Isis Mirabilis was.

Still, for the moment Isis was little more than a vegetable, and for the moment he had to treat her like one. He had already given Isis a command to walk, and this she was doing with a steady, unchanging rhythm. He would have to put her back in the processing-tank; put all of the sensors back on her so that Lord Hamilcal could monitor her health and add the proper nutrients that her comatose form would need.

Though Lord Shin still seemed to be rather at a loss.

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As he left the Arizona Headquarters, Shin could not help but think back to what Imakarum had said about Isis Mirabilis. If she truly had no mind of her own, that was rather saddening. True, the girl had been an enemy of Chronos, but having one's entire mind erased simply to keep them docile and passive was not something that he felt entirely comfortable with. Still, the fact that the situation was discomforting for him on a personal level had no bearing on the situation.

Dr. Balkus had done this some time ago, judging by the fact that Yukari Fukamachi was a fully processed Zoalord. Those took a great deal of time to create; especially one so obviously specialized as Isis Mirabilis was. Zoalords were not generally capable of healing others of their kind; for a moment, Shin wondered what Dr. Balkus had done with the prototype Zoalords that had been used to develop and test the modifications made to Yukari Fukamachi's body while she was being processed.

Dr. Balkus could not possibly have been foolish enough not to make certain that all of the prototype Zoalords that had been used in the creation of Yukari- rather Isis Mirabilis' Zoalord body had been properly disposed of. It would not do to have another woman like Sayuri Murakami causing trouble. Though her grievances _had_ been legitimate, that woman had caused far too much trouble for Chronos.

And now, just as Sayuri Murakami had been, Yukari Fukamachi had been forcibly recruited to serve in Chronos' ranks. Shin was not precisely certain how he should feel about that.

As he was leaving the Arizona Headquarters, one of the many Zoanoid staff came rushing up to him.

"I apologize for my abruptness, Your Excellency," the Zoanoid – a Brelimos – said, as he bowed to Shin. "But, the Pillars of Heaven have been seriously damaged by an attack made by the resistance force calling itself Zeus Thunderbolt."

"What?" Shin gasped, shocked that one of the largest and most well defended bases of Chronos could be destroyed so easily.

"That's what happened, Your Excellency," the Brelimos said, nodding in what Shin knew was a respectful manner. "There is also a great deal of damage that has been done to the Third Operations Plant, also by the Thunderbolts."

"How could this happen?" Shin was appalled; that mere humans would be ruthless enough to kill so many innocents simply to damage Chronos' largest and most visible facilities.

Truly, the humans who served under Agito and Akane Makishima were some of the most violent and dangerous of their kind.

"I will return to Washington to oversee the repairs," Shin said, knowing that it would be best for a Zoalord to be present, to act as both an organizing force and as a reassurance that Chronos would take care of it's own.

"Thank you, Your Excellency," the Brelimos said, bowing with an expression of relieved gratitude on his face. "There were also some odd reports of another Zoaform that seemed to be commanding the Libertus. Something like the Zoalords command us Zoanoids."

Shin, already heading for the Heliport, nearly stopped dead in his tracks at that pronouncement. "What did the reports say about this new Zoaform?"

"It was reported that this new Zoaform was female, Your Excellency."

"Curious," Shin said, thinking back to his encounter with Isis Mirabilis. He wondered what the girl would be like, once she had been restored to consciousness by Lord Alkanphel. "Will you accompany me to Washington to assess the damages and oversee the repairs?"

"Yes, Excellency. I would be honored."

Nodding to himself, Shin kept walking. This newest attack, lead as it was by what seemed to be the Libertus' analogue to a Zoalord, was very troubling to him. Also, there was the matter of Lord Imakarum's seeming suspicions about the other members of the Zoalord Council. Shin was starting to have his own suspicions about the three Zoalords who had been gathered around what, if not for young Isis Mirabilis, would have been Fried'rich's corpse.

They had seemed rather too eager to dismiss the healing abilities that Isis Mirabilis had demonstrated; too eager to let Fried'rich lay in the middle of the street to die. Such was not the activity of a loyal Zoalord. It was very worrisome to Shin; he would have to speak with Fried'rich when he got the chance.

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Hikari felt more than ready to leave her resting-place; however, there was still the matter of her being completely unable to move, a situation that she hated with a fierce passion. She could not serve Lord Alkanphel while she was incapacitated in this way; would not be able to fight by the side of her counterpart if he needed her. It was most aggravating, this weakness that she was subject to.

__

This strange feeling that I have, what is it? Hikari wondered, trying in vain to move her neck or open her eyes. The strange, fragmented resonance that she felt, while it was somewhat familiar to her in its intensity, was unlike anything that Hikari had ever felt before. _What is this? This signal that is calling me, I think I recognize it. Could it be him?_

It was a plausible assumption, that Lord Alkanphel would be calling to her even in this state. He had to know that she was still aware, even in spite of her comatose state. Imakarum seemed to know that fact, since he had been speaking to her as if she were still awake. Her counterpart had said that there were things, both good and ill, going on within the ranks of the Twelve Zoalords.

Lords Luggnagg, Jabir and Kablarl had evidently tried and failed to murder Lord Fried'rich. They would no doubt be dealt with once Lord Alkanphel regained his full strength. A sudden feeling of energy, as if all of her nerves had been tapped with an electrified wire, surged through Hikari then. There was a slight pain in every one of her muscles as they were restored to mobility by the energy flowing into her.

As Hikari's body began to respond to her commands again, she began to feel the bubbles of oxygen that were sliding across her skin. There were more of them than she had seen in a normal processing-tank, but that was most likely because Lord Alkanphel's lifepod was being infused with energy. Energy that Hikari was taking in and using to restore herself to consciousness.

Even as more and more bubbles spiraled up across her body, Hikari felt the lifepod shuddering as she transformed into her larger, stronger battleform. Hikari's eyes snapped open, she gasped for the oxygen that was being created by the pod as her Zoacrystal and the clarity of thought that came with it was restored at last. Hikari could see the cracks forming in the skin of Lord Alkanphel's lifepod, and for a moment she mourned its impending destruction.

Still, Hikari was far more eager to leave this lonely island and rejoin the ranks of her fellow Overlords than she was worried about the lifepod that she currently resided in. It would most likely grow back anyway, this being the remains of a living ship. As the lifepod burst open, scattering the amniotic fluid and allowing her to step out into the open air once more, Hikari breathed freely for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

There was just one more thing that she needed to do now; now that she was awake and in full control of her body once again. Hikari could feel a strong, energetic presence in the lower atmosphere. It felt almost like the Ark, but that was not possible, since Lord Alkanphel had told her that the Ark was gathering solar energy to sustain itself.

This part of the world was turned away from the sun, and so the Ark would not have come to this part of the world. It felt almost as if Lord Alkanphel was with her again; his comforting presence surrounding her and infusing her body with new life and energy. Hikari knew that her master had little of that to spare, and so it was her duty to find him and bring her master back to the sanctuary of his temple before his remaining energy failed him.

Stepping out onto the remains of the lifepod that Lord Alkanphel had set her in, Hikari noticed that her body felt much more... exposed than it had when she had originally stepped out of Lord Alkanphel's lifepod. looking down, Hikari found that she had involuntarily returned to her human form while she had been exiting the remains of Lord Alkanphel's lifepod.

Of course, whether she was in her human or Zoalord form was unimportant for the task that she had to accomplish now. Crossing to the area where her clothes and armor had been stored, Hikari swiftly began to dress, feeling Lord Alkanphel's steadily declining energy levels even as she did. Running out of the temple, Hikari leaped up and flew into the sky.

As it turned out, Lord Alkanphel had indeed taken the Ark from its position in the upper regions of Earth's atmosphere. As Hikari flew up to meet Chronos' great ship, she wondered what condition she would find Lord Alkanphel in when she finally found him. She could sense that her Lord still lived; he merely felt much weaker than she had ever sensed him being before.

Landing aboard the Ark again, Hikari swiftly made her way to the main control center of the living ship. She found Lord Alkanphel at the controls of the Ark. Slumped in the chair, rather, looking for all the world as if he were merely asleep. The fact that her Lord's fingers were locked in a death-grip around the control-orbs gave the lie to that appearance, though.

Gently prying Lord Alkanphel's fingers loose from the orbs, Hikari was rather surprised when her Lord's golden eyes opened slightly and the fingers of his left hand curled weakly around her right hand.

"Sayuri, you've awakened. Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, my Lord, I am," here Hikari paused, uncertain if she should be so presumptuous as to ask the question that was on her mind. Still, she was very concerned for her Lord's health. Perhaps it was not presumption, then? "Why did you use the Ark on your own, my Lord? You had to know that it would damage your health. You would have been slipping in and out of consciousness all of the time that you were here; I do not know what the other members of the Council would do if they saw you in this state. Why would you try to do something like this?"

To Hikari's eternal surprise, Lord Alkanphel chuckled softly. "I could not allow you to remain in that weak, injured state, my Sayuri. I would not have been able to sleep comfortably if I knew that you were vulnerable. Masaki would try to protect you, I think," Lord Alkanphel gently traced her lower lip with the fingers of his right hand. "Still, I would prefer that you are able to defend yourself if the need arose, Sayuri."

"I thank you, Lord Alkanphel."

"I can rest now, knowing that you will be able to protect yourself if any farther threats arise. Please, Sayuri, take me back to my sanctuary on Silha."

"Yes, my Lord," Hikari bowed, before she gently took Lord Alkanphel's body into her arms and cradled him.

Kissing the top of her Lord's head, Hikari climbed back onto the platform that had taken her into the main room of the Ark. Once she had made it back into the main embarkation room of the great ship - Chronos' living battle-equipped transport - Hikari stepped off of the platform and leaped lightly into the air.

Surrounding herself with her forcefield, Hikari flew back down into the atmosphere; back down to the sanctuary of her Lord on the hidden island of Silha. The Ark would presumably be returned to its place in orbit, gathering energy for itself from the unfiltered solar power present in outer space.

Hikari now knew just why Lord Alkanphel had created the Ark; he wanted to find the Advents, the ones who had created all life on this planet in the first place, to find them and to demand an accounting for the abandonment and the attempt at murder that he had suffered at their hands. Hikari would make certain that her Lord was able to find the answers that he deserved from the beings that had meant so much to him.

Settling Lord Alkanphel back into his stone bed, Hikari stroked his pale hair for one final time before she left the temple under her own power. There were many things that she needed to do, now that she had been restored to consciousness and full mobility. _Still..._

Hikari shook her head; there was no time for personal thoughts on this matter. What was important were the goals and desires of Lord Alkanphel. _...still..._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Imakarum paused, looking up as he felt the approach of another Zoalord; a Zoalord that felt particularly familiar to him. A Zoalord that felt very much like... _Hikari!_

Leaving his table in Cloud Gate's main eating area, Imakarum swiftly made his way down into the main concourse of Cloud Gate's ground level.

__

-My Lady, I am glad to know that you have returned.-

-Thank you, my Lord,- Hikari said, seeming slightly flustered and annoyed by something.

__

-Are you not feeling completely well, my Lady?-

-I am well, my Lord.-

And that was the last he heard from Hikari. Hurrying down to Cloud Gate's ground level, Imakarum soon came upon Hikari, and presumably upon the thing that was distressing her. _Things_, rather.

Lords Jabir and Luggnagg were gathered around Hikari, Lord Jabir was hugging her. Hikari was stiff and ridged within Lord Jabir's embrace, most likely because she was not prepared for such an enthusiastic greeting from her fellow Overlords.

"Lord Jabir," Hikari said, her voice and posture both radiating discomfort. "I would appreciate it if you would remove your hand from that area."

"In due time, my dear," Lord Jabir said, even as he kissed Hikari on the left cheek and released her.

However, no sooner had Lord Jabir released Hikari, than Lord Luggnagg stepped forward and wrapped his own arms around her. For a moment, Hikari seemed more relaxed, and then she tensed in the same manner that she had when Lord Jabir had embraced her. Closing with them, even as Lord Luggnagg kissed Hikari on the right cheek and released her with his own words of welcome, Imakarum watched to see if hikari would need his help.

"Lord Jabir, if you would-"

Before Hikari could finish her intended sentence, Lord Jabir pressed her chestplate into her hands. Hikari thanked him, then proceeded to reattach her armor. She strode calmly over to him as Lords Jabir and Luggnagg left the room.

"Was there something troubling you, my Lady?" Imakarum asked.

"No, my Lord," Hikari shook her head. "It was not anything important."

Nodding, trusting that Hikari would inform him if there was a situation that she felt she could not handle on her own, Imakarum proceeded to inform his counterpart of the changes that had happened in Chronos while she had been recovering. Especially a certain event that Imakarum was quite certain would please her on various levels.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As Kablarl herded Isis into the waiting processing-tank, he had already had the girl stripped of her clothes in preparation for this plan of theirs, he wondered just how bad a reaction the girl's counterpart would have to seeing her in this situation. There could be no doubt that the boy knew what processing-tanks were used for, and to see his own counterpart inside one...

Perhaps he would ask Jabir about the boy's reaction; he was the one who would be controlling the girl, after all.

Turning his attention back to Isis, now sitting obediently in the tank and awaiting further instructions, he ordered her to attach the medical monitors to herself. Looking back up to the ceiling, where some of the Zoanoids, under his command had placed the frozen form of Aptom, Kablarl felt a sense of satisfaction. Looking back down at the girl, Kablarl chuckled aloud.

There was simply no chance that Sho Fukamachi would ever be able to resist this kind of bait.


	14. Deceptive Rescue Mission

****

Deceptive Rescue Mission

He couldn't sense her. Yukari had completely disappeared from his perception; he hadn't been able to contact her through their link since she had passed out in the tank, just after that insect-type Zoanoid had sedated her. Sho hoped that Yukari was okay; that she hadn't been hurt too badly while she had been in Chronos' possession.

Sho wasn't sure what he'd do if Yukari was hurt too badly for them to help her.

Of course, he still didn't know where Yukari was, and now Aptom had been taken hostage by Chronos. Sho wasn't sure whether he would be able to find either of them, but he still had to try. He owed it to both of them to rescue them from whatever horrible things that Chronos planned to do to them. He had to make sure that they were safe.

And that meant that he had to get up, no matter _how_ tired he still was.

Levering himself up and out of bed, resisting the urge to crawl right back in again, Sho slowly made his way out of his room and back into the house. He didn't want Tetsuro, Mizuki and the others to worry about him, more than that he didn't want any of them to try and stop him because they were worried about him, so he knew he would have to get out of the house without them seeing him if he wanted to rescue Aptom.

He still didn't quite know where Aptom was, but Sho knew that he had to do something to find him. And to find Yukari, too.

However, despite his vows to himself; despite all of his determination, Sho still found himself heading back into his room and dropping back into the bed. As much as he fought it, as much as he didn't want to, Sho found himself slipping back into sleep.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

With Hekkaring's input, the anti-Hyper Zoanoid weapons that she had been working on were coming along quite nicely. A fair amount of her counterpart's 'Libertus' forces seemed to favor them, and so she had decided to make more of them than she had originally planned. Still, more weapons meant more of the toxin had to be manufactured.

And that meant that there was a greater chance that someone else would be able to synthesize it.

Hekkaring was not precisely loyal to either of them; he cooperated out of fear, the way that any of the weaker-minded did with them. Once she was fully satisfied that she could manufacture the toxin on her own, then Hekkaring would become surpurflous. Akane was certain that Agito felt the same way about that man.

__

On the subject of my counterpart…Leaving her desk, and the plans for the weapons that had been locked securely in the drawers, Akane left the room where she had been staying and headed back out into the main area of their own processing facility. There were some things that she was curious about.

Akane was taking in the rows of unconscious Libertus in their processing tanks, being infused with energy and nutrients if the information she had received from Hekkaring was accurate, with a sweeping glance as she walked past. The Libertus were the culmination of Hekkaring's work and Agito's planning; they were also rather fascinating in their own perverse way.

Akane entered the room during what was obviously the end of a discussion between her counterpart and Hekkaring.

"Was there anything of interest discussed?"

"Akane," Agito acknowledged, turning to look at her. "Hekkaring and I were simply discussing the conditions of the Libertus."

"Indeed?" Akane tilted her head slightly. "And what are the conditions of our warrior Zoanoids?"

"According to Hekkaring, they are doing quite well; at the moment, they are being infused with the energy and nutrients they need to recover from their latest battle."

"That was not entirely what I said," Akane turned to look at Dr. Hekkaring as he made his presence known. "I said that these hyper-combat Zoanoids of yours, while they have been developed using the most advanced technology - far more advanced than even that which has been put to use in Chronos' Hyper Zoanoids -are currently in optimal condition. But that situation will not last."

"Meaning?" Akane prompted, raising an eyebrow.

"Meaning that the Libertus, unlike every other kind of Zoanoid that has been developed, will not be able to regain enough energy and nutrients to replace what they lose in battle merely from eating and sleeping, as a normal Zoaform would. They must be returned to these tanks each time they finish a battle. Also, due to the extensive changes made to their cellular metabolism, and the fact that they are put through the equivalent of re-processing each time they return here after a battle, their lifespans have been significantly reduced. I honestly doubt that they will be able to survive for more than two years at this rate. Perhaps closer to three if you are both careful about when and how you use them."

"We have a great deal of soldiers who would be willing to undergo this process, in spite of any risk, simply to be able to fight Chronos on more even terms," Akane smiled thinly. "Uneven, rather. Still, it is doubtful that we would ever run out of candidates."

"Indeed," Agito said calmly, stepping over to stand beside her on the catwalk. "Hekkaring, was there anything else that you wanted to speak to us about?"

"Hmph. I rather doubt that either of you would care, but your Libertus are not the only Zoaforms that will be affected by this problem," Hekkaring said, as she and Agito allowed themselves to be led to the far end of the main floor, where a single processing-tank stands. "This shortened lifespan also effects Griselda. She will not survive for very much longer than the Libertus themselves."

"That sounds reasonable," Akane said, looking over the unconscious, altered form of Shizu Onuma.

The battleform was pink; a color that Akane had no particular love for; but then she hadn't been the one to design it. Also, there was nothing wrong with the color; it even made Griselda seem rather harmless. Of course, any Zoanoid who thought that about a Zoalord would be quickly disabused of the notion. If they even survived the inevitable battle; so perhaps Agito's choice of color was appropriate in this case.

"When she was selected to lead the Libertus, did either of you tell her what would happen to her? Did either of you tell her that her lifespan would be reduced like this?"

"I did," Agito said firmly. "Shizu knows what will happen to her."'

"I spoke to her about her choice also," Akane admitted, looking at the unconscious form in the processing-tank. "She seemed almost eager to undergo this process. She said that she wanted to help us; to help save Yukari."

Hekkaring nodded. "In any case, I've finished my work on her; I'm going to retract her battleform so that she can rest more comfortably."

So saying, Hekkaring typed a series of commands into the computer terminal that monitored the condition of their Libertus Zoalord.

__

Shizu… It was something of a dilemma, the fact that her old friend Shizu had decided to side with Agito. The two of them were truly much too similar to ever coexist; they both had the same ambitions, and neither of them would ever settle for being subordinate to another. They would never be able to share control over this world; either one of them would have to give up their ambitions – an impossible request – or one of them would have to die. And Akane was determined that _she_ would not be the one to die.

Killing a Guyver, while it was a particularly difficult task, could be done by someone who knew as much as she did about the workings of the armor. Unfortunately, Agito knew just as much as she did about the Guyver; and he would also have Shizu to protect him. Still, Shizu would not likely to survive much longer than three years at the most; there would be ample time to plan for contingencies while she participated in the coming battles against Chronos.

While it would be somewhat troubling, to lose a… companion that had stood by her for so long, Shizu had made her choice to stay with Agito and support him. And, with her shortened lifespan from the processing, Akane would not have so long to wait to make her move.

Three years would also give her ample time to devise a strategy.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

It felt like someone had driven a heated iron rod through his stomach, Fried'rich reflected, as he opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling.

"How are you feeling this morning, Your Excellency?"

Fried'rich turned to look at the doctor that was standing over him. "I remember that there was a woman; more of a girl, now that I think about it, standing over me. I think she healed me," Fried'rich was momentarily confused, but the next words out of the doctor's mouth helped to assuage Fried'rich's discomfort.

"You must be thinking of Isis. She was the one who healed you when Imakarum brought you here."

"Where is she?" Fried'rich asked. "If she was the one who pulled me back, then I would like to thank her."

"Isis is currently staying at the Japan Section's Cloud Gate," the doctor said, seeming to hesitate before she continued with her train of thought. "And I don't think that Isis would be in any condition to acknowledge your gratitude, Excellency."

"What do you mean by that?" Fried'rich asked, taken aback.

"Dr. Balkus informed me, as well as the rest of the medical staff, that he had been forced to forcibly suppress her consciousness for the safety of Chronos and its personnel."

"Why would Isis be so dangerous to Chronos that Dr. Balkus felt he needed to do something so drastic? Who was she originally?"

"I wasn't aware of her identity at first, but as it turns out, Isis was Yukari Fukamachi; she was captured during the battle between the Mirabilis twins and those Gigantic Guyvers everyone's been talking about."

"Isis... is Yukari?"

"Yeah, I was pretty surprised by that myself."

Fried'rich sat back against his pillows, thinking over what he had just learned. If Yukari had indeed been taken in by Chronos and made into one of Lord Alkanphel's Zoalords, then it would only be right that he helped her to find her place within Chronos' ranks, though he suspected that Imakarum and Hikari would be more than willing to help her in that respect. Hikari especially seemed very interested in Yukari's welfare.

Still, offering aid to Yukari as she settled into her position at Chronos - whatever that turned out to be - would at least cover some of the debt that he owed the girl for saving his life.

"Where is she now?"

"Isis has been transferred to Cloud Gate, on the request of His Excellency Jabir Bun Hiyern."

"Hiyern," Fried'rich sat up quickly, the memory of what could have been his last moments alive coming back to him at the mention of that name. "Are the three of them at Cloud Gate right now? Jabir, Luggnagg and Kablarl, are they there?!"

"Yes," the doctor said, looking in curiosity at Fried'rich, even as he tried to find a way to tell her about what had happened. "Why do you ask?"

Perhaps it was best to be blunt in this case. "Luggnagg was the one who attacked me. He shot me in the back; with a Gravity Bullet, I think."

"You mean, you were attacked by a fellow Zoalord?" the doctor seemed very surprised by this, she looked as if she wanted to ask more questions, but visibly restrained herself. "I'll have to bring Dr. Balkus up to speed on this."

As the doctor left, Fried'rich found himself wondering just why Yukari, or rather Isis, had been transferred to Cloud Gate. What could those three be planning?

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As he took in the bustle of Tokyo far beneath him, both figuratively and literally, Jabir tried to concentrate on the report that Gastahl was giving him.

"I trust that everything is in place," Jabir said, watching Gastahl's reflection in the nearly floor-length panes of glass.

"Yes, sir," Gastahl said, and Jabir could see his nod reflected in the glass. "All the preparations that you have requested have been made, Your Excellency."

"Good. Including the girl, I trust?"

"She'll be right out in plain sight, just as you ordered," Gastahl chuckled. "The Guyver would have to be blind to miss her."

"Perfect. You're sure that not a word of this has gotten out to Shin, yes?"

"Very sure, Excellency. I spoke of nothing while I was around the other Zoanoids. Not even the scientists know what your plans are."

"Good," Jabir said, nodding himself. "You're dismissed, Gastahl."

"Of course, Excellency," the Zoanoid bowed one last time before he turned and left.

"Well, now that we have all the party favors in place, don't you think it's time that we started the celebration?"

Jabir had to chuckle at Kablarl's choice of metaphors, and he found that he wasn't the only one that found it amusing. Luggnagg was chuckling as well.

"Yes," the deep, thoughtful baritone of their fellow Zoalord answered, once he had finished chuckling. "I think it is time that we set out our bait."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

It felt so much later when Sho opened his eyes again, and at first, he couldn't quite remember why it was that he had wanted to leave so urgently. But then the events of last night came rushing back to him; that fake Gigantic, the battle with Purg'stall, the fact that Aptom had been captured by Chronos. And then Sho remembered; he remembered that Yukari had also been taken by Chronos.

Yukari had been in their hands for two weeks now, and Sho hadn't been able to contact her once in all that time. It was like she had just disappeared. Sho didn't know exactly what to make of that, but he knew that nothing good could possibly happen to a Guyver that had been captured by Chronos.

He had to get out of here; he had to go save them.

Making his way down the halls as quietly as he could, not wanting to worry anyone if he could help it, Sho started to hear the sounds of the television. It sounded like Tetsuro and the others were watching the news. That was a good idea; to keep informed about what was going on outside the house where they were all staying.

When he heard Aptom's name, though, Sho paused just outside the room. Tetsuro had sounded shocked, like there was something worse going on than just the fact that Aptom had been captured. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Sho listened to the newscaster as he detailed just what was happening; or whatever Chronos had told everyone was happening.

"Even though this creature is a Guyver, the fact that it is in this frozen state means that it will not live for very much longer. Every day, the Guyver's lifesigns decrease by some small amount. When the lifesigns have ceased entirely, the medical research staff of Cloud Gate have revealed that they intend to perform an autopsy on this creature."

Sho had to bite his lip very hard to keep himself from gasping or doing anything else that might give him away. It was his fault; his fault that Aptom had been captured and was dying slowly, his fault that Yukari had spent so long in Chronos' hands. He should have tried harder to find her, no matter what it had cost him in the end.

"In more uplifting news; the girl Yukari Fukamachi, reported to have been kidnapped by the extraterrestrial forces, has been taken to Cloud Gate for deprogramming and medical assistance. No interviews are being permitted at this time, but we can be assured that the girl is receiving the best of care."

It was only when Sho started tasting his own blood that he became aware of just how hard he'd been biting down on his tongue. Yukari was at Cloud Gate, with Aptom. On the one hand, that was good, since he would be able to get the both of them out of that horrible place quickly; on the other hand, Cloud Gate had one of the largest processing divisions in Japan.

There were thousands of Zoanoids there, and he didn't know what they had in mind for Yukari. But Sho did know that he had to rescue her before they could do anything permanent to her.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Shin was outraged; that three of his fellow Zoalords would give away the secrets of Chronos so easily was not something that he was prepared to tolerate.

"Why did you show the public these images?" Shin demanded. "Aptom was one of Dr. Balkus' top-secret projects, and you now go announcing his existence to the entire population of Japan? What could you have been _thinking_?!"

"Calm yourself, Shin," Luggnagg said. "While it is true that we may have acted outside our bounds in not asking for your approval, I highly doubt that anyone other than ourselves and the rebels knows of Aptom's true identity. No one even mentioned his name. I think, and the others agree with me, that he could be used to lure the remaining Guyver I here."

"And what of this announcement that Yukari Fukamachi is receiving treatment here? We all know what was done to her," Shin paused for a moment, again feeling a sense of regret that such drastic measures had been taken - had had to be taken - to ensure the safety of Chronos' interests.

"She will also be good bait to bring Guyver I to this place," Kablarl said. "And he would not be nearly as eager to rescue her if he knew that she was a Zoalord like us."

"You plan to let the Gigantic Guyver into Cloud Gate itself?" Shin was shocked at the audacity of what the trio in front of him had planned.

"Indeed. With the lives of Aptom and his comrade Yukari on the line, the boy will not dare to do anything that might endanger them."

"And, even if he did, with four Zoalords here it would be very easy for us to deal with him," Hiyern said confidently. "Even the Gigantic would be no match for us."

"Indeed," Luggnagg said, nodding at Jabir and Kablarl. "The Gigantic will be no match for four such seasoned Zoalords as ourselves. And he will never be able to fight his young friend; he has proven that in all his battles with Imakarum Mirabilis. I am certain that Purg'stall would have agreed with this course of action."

"I would prefer to consult directly with him on this matter," Shin muttered. "I still have not gotten word of his condition from Dr. Balkus, but I hope the prognosis is good. Still, for now I am the acting Overlord for this Section; I will not stand for the three of you acting without my authorization in this area."

"My apologies," Luggnagg said, inclining his head slightly. "We will endeavor to seek your approval in these matters in the future."

"We will be happy to offer you any assistance that you might require in your battle against the Guyvers," Jabir said, offering him a calm smile. "I am sure that you will need to have some help, eventually."

__

What did he mean by that? Shin wondered, feeling a sense of foreboding but not knowing precisely why. _Are you three planning something more than you have told me, or am I looking into this too deeply?_


	15. Descent into Deception

**Descent into Deception**

As Sho made his way out of the house, trying to be careful so no one would notice that he was gone, he listened to make sure that no one was behind him. Sho didn't want anyone else to be put in danger by following him. He didn't want any of his friends to be put in harm's way by trying to help solve a problem that he had caused in the first place.

It was his responsibility to save Yukari and Aptom; it was his fault that they had been captured in the first place. If he hadn't been so slow, Ms. Murakami would have never have been able to capture her like that. And if Aptom hadn't had to defend him from those three Zoalords, then he wouldn't have been captured and frozen the way he had been. Aptom wouldn't have been dying if it weren't for him.

This was his responsibility; Yukari and Aptom were _his_ friends.

"Guy-!"

"Sho, wait!"

Sho turned at Mizuki's voice. "Mizuki? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what am _I_ doing here?!" she demanded, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and pulling him close. "What are you trying to do, kill yourself?!"

"I'm sorry, Mizuki," Sho said, feeling torn between staying and leaving by the betrayed look in Mizuki's eyes. "But I _have_ to do this. I can't just abandon Aptom to Chronos. And Yukari; I have to save her. She's a Guyver, like me; and you know how much Chronos hates us. Please understand, I have to stop them from hurting any more of our friends."

"But what if you can't use the Gigantic, Sho? You'll be killed!"

"I know I'm taking a risk by doing this, and I know Chronos announced that they had captured Aptom and Yukari to lure me into a trap, but I have to at least _try_ to save them. Aptom sacrificed himself to save me, and Yukari helped me when Mr. Murakami was," Sho swallowed past a knot in his throat. "Was trying to kill me. I owe them both; I can't just leave them with Chronos."

"Sho..."

"Try not to worry so much about me, Mizuki," Sho said, as he took her hands and squeezed them gently. "I won't try to fight Chronos' Zoanoids. I'll avoid them whenever I can, and I'll dedicate myself to rescuing Yukari and Aptom. I've been inside Cloud Gate before-"

"And that means you know your way around," a very familiar voice finished his sentence for him. "I can't let you go into Cloud Gate alone, Sho. I'll come with you, to help you navigate better and to even the odds against you there."

"Hayami, no! I _can't_ ask you to do something like that!"

"You don't have to ask, Sho," Hayami said, his voice calm. "I'm going to go with you. I worked for three years studying the lowest level of that building. I know how to avoid the patrols, and I know how to get into the computer systems in that building. And I owe Aptom a debt of gratitude for helping to save us when we were attacked by those Zoalords."

"Hayami..." Sho wanted to protest farther; this was his fight, and he didn't want any more of his good friends falling into Chronos' hands. He'd lost enough as it was.

But Hayami didn't look like he would easily back down from this, and every second they wasted meant that Chronos had more of a chance to do horrible things to his friends.

"Sho."

Sho turned to regard Mizuki, who was giving him a look of fierce longing. "You have to make me a promise: you have to _promise_ me that you'll come back alive, no matter what happens."

"I promise," pulling her close so he could hold her tight. "I promise that I'll come back to you, Mizuki. I'll bring Yukari and Aptom back, I promise."

Squeezing Mizuki one last time, Sho let go and turned away. Walking past Hayami as he transformed, Sho took a deep breath and called for the Guyver. Once the bio-armor had fused completely to his body, Sho breathed out and resolved himself to what he was about to do.

_Aptom, Yukari; I will save you, I promise._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Since he was going to be controlling her during her debut anyway, Jabir would often take control of the little girl's physical functions. It was rather entertaining to make the girl open her eyes, nod her head, and look around at the various objects and tables filled with various equipment. Of course, it would have been a great deal more amusing if the little girl had a mind of her own; so that she could try in vain to resist his control.

It would be so much more amusing if the little girl could try fighting him, and he could crush her pitiful defiance into nothingness as he took control of her body. Shin would have never approved, of course; but then, it wasn't any of Shin's business what the three of them were doing. Besides, there was no pressing need for him to know just what they were planning to do with the little girl that they had had transferred to this base.

Tapping into the girl's physical functions again, Jabir chuckled softly as he made her roll her head from side to side, nod, and then blink her eyes with such rapidity that the view through her visual senses became a sort of strobe-ish slideshow image. The girl was a very entertaining little puppet; it would almost be a disappointment when the girl was given her own mind again.

Or at least a semblance of such.

Still, with a mind of her own, the girl would be able to struggle. That would provide him with a modicum of amusement.

"Jabir, I think you should stop playing with little Isis' mind," Luggnagg said. "The Guyver may be paying us a visit soon, and we wouldn't want the boy to get the wrong idea about his little friend, now would we?"

"Of course not," Jabir said, smiling slightly as he relinquished control of the girl's physical functions. "I'll just wait until the right time comes."

"I think we're all waiting for that," Kablarl chuckled, speaking for the first time. "The Guyver boy will probably arrive soon, to try and rescue his little friends."

"Of course, given what happened in Washington, it might be somewhat impetuous for us to be drawing that very creature back to this base," Luggnagg said, in a tone that suggested he was somewhere between serious and amused.

"There has been an attack on this building once before, and this was made by two Gigantic Guyvers," Khan said. "I honestly doubt that one alone will be enough to cause us any significant trouble. Shin will most likely be rather unhappy, but I suppose that is unavoidable."

"Then again, the possibility remains that Sho Fukamachi is unable to use the Gigantic armor," Luggnagg stated. "I don't think Shin is aware of that."

"True," Jabir nodded. "Still, I wonder if the boy had truly lost the ability to transform into the Gigantic. It would indeed be useful for us if that were the case; I simply don't think it would be wise for us to discount the possibility that he was merely at the limits of his strength when he fought us."

"Indeed," Luggnagg said. "Still, there is time. Time for us to formulate a strategy that considers all the variables of this situation. After all, nothing like this has ever happened before: the Gigantic Guyver and the Gigantic Dark appearing at almost the same time."

"Yes," Khan said, leaning back in his chair but not relaxing his hands. "The only time that two Gigantic Guyvers were spotted in the same vicinity at the same time was when Guyver I and his little counterpart attacked us. And we all know what happened to that little girl."

"True," Jabir said, smiling slightly. They knew better than most. Then Jabir's expression became one of mild confusion. "Still, what does that mean for us? Does that mean there are merely two Gigantics instead of four?"

"So it would seem," Luggnagg said, nodding. "Remember that the time Sho Fukamachi lost control of the Gigantic coincided almost exactly with the appearance of Gigantic Dark. And, there is still the fact that Akane Makishima had not been spotted using the Gigantic."

"I would think that would be rather obvious," Khan stated in his sagacious way. "The two Makishimas have left Sho Fukamachi to fend for himself. They even seem to have betrayed the boy."

"Those two are working to expand their military's influence, one step at a time," Luggnagg said, expanding on the point that Khan had brought up. "Now, neither of them seems to have any use for the boy," he smiled coldly. "This is truly a rare opportunity for us. We should send some of our personnel out to investigate; there is a very good chance that we will be able to turn this situation to our own advantage."

The cityscape beneath them glittered with possibilities. Possibilities that the three Zoalords fully intended to capitalize on when the time came.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Sho panted from exertion; he'd never had to fire the Pressure Cannon continuously for this long. Even when he'd escaped from Purg'stall and the other Zoalords, that hadn't taken anywhere near as long as this seemed to be taking. Sho just hoped that the Guyver would have enough energy to fight when he needed it to.

It wasn't just his own life on the line this time; it was Aptom's and Yukari's, and Mr. Hayami's too. That was why he was going to have to be at the top of his game when he came out of this tunnel that he was digging: he had to keep all of his friends safe from Chronos.

"You were right, Mr. Hayami, they're waiting for us in the sewers, too."

"I had a feeling they would be," Mr. Hayami said, his voice echoing slightly in the rocky tunnel. "Still, what we're looking for is a lot deeper than the sewers. It's at the deepest level of Cloud Gate; that's our way in."

Sho nodded, and kept burrowing. _Just hold on a little bit longer, Yukari, Aptom. Hayami and I will be there to rescue you soon. Please be all right._

He could sense a large, liquid-filled space just in front of him, only half a meter of rock between him and his goal. Focusing on his friends, blocking out all the thoughts of what Chronos might be doing to them, Sho blew the remaining rock apart with one shot from the Pressure Cannon. Throwing himself into the water even as it flooded into the tunnel, Sho flew through it and burst out in a violent spray of disturbed liquid.

The two Zoanoid guards who had been assigned to patrol the area on the off-chance that the sole remaining Guyver in Japan made it into the area somehow suddenly found themselves in the very situation that their superiors - and even the Zoanoids themselves - had deemed so very unlikely.

"It's here! The Guyver I is actually _here_!" one of the Zoanoids, the one on the left, shouted.

"We have to contact the Main Control Center!" the other Zoanoid exclaimed.

"You'll never get the chance!" Mr. Hayami growled, as a blanket of freezing mist covered the two Zoanoids before they could make another move.

Sho supposed that he might have felt some mercy for the Zoanoids at one point, but that was before Chronos had taken Mr. Murakami. Before he'd found out just what kind of horrible people he was dealing with. Now, as the frozen corpses of the Zoanoids crashed to the ground and shattered, Sho felt only a distant kind of professional satisfaction.

That, and the subtle feeling of wrongness that was nagging at him.

"I think this is all a little _too_ easy," he said, looking at Mr. Hayami to try and see if he felt the same.

Sho couldn't really read any emotions on the strange face of Mr. Hayami's Zoanoid form, though.

"This place isn't that well protected, Sho. This is about the level of security I was expecting them to have. None of the people in charge would be likely to think that we would enter from this deep in the building; that's what gives us the advantage."

"Yeah," Sho breathed, taking a moment to really _look_ at the place where he now stood. "It's really amazing that they managed to create such a large reservoir two-hundred meters underground like this. How did you know about it?"

"I have the technical plans and blueprints for Cloud Gate that I stole back when they were working out how to build this place. Back when I worked in Relics Point, I always used to look at the plans and wonder just how Chronos was going to construct such a huge building in the city center; I never imagined that I would ever be trying to infiltrate it someday."

Sho could just barely make out the smile on Mr. Hayami's face, and from his tone Sho thought it would have been wistful.

"Look up there, Sho. Several floors above us is the electrical power plant that supplies energy for the whole of Cloud Gate. The main processing facilities will be one floor above that. Chronos always puts them as close as they can to the generators."

"Do you think we'll find Aptom and Yukari there?" Sho asked, following the cables and piping until they disappeared through a hole in the ceiling.

"I don't know; but it's the first place I expect Chronos would put them. Both because Aptom's one of Balkus' lost specimens, and Yukari... because they probably want to find out something about the Guyver. We'll begin our search there."

Sho nodded, wordlessly following Mr. Hayami deeper into Cloud Gate. He wanted to find Yukari and Aptom; wanted to get them out of this place. He wanted all of his friends to be safe.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_-It's wonderful, isn't it my Lord? Our little family seems to have grown just that much bigger.-_

Curling his arms more securely around Hikari's waist, Imakarum nuzzled her slightly. _-Yes. It is wonderful to have at least one of the children that were so dear to us restored. Now, if only Sho could be persuaded to listen to reason, then our family would be complete again.-_

_-Yes,-_ Hikari said, sounding pensive. _-Still, perhaps Yukari will be able to talk some sense into him after Lord Alkanphel restores her to consciousness. The two of them did seem to be rather close to one another. A function of sharing so many memories, one would suppose.-_

_-Isis,-_ Imakarum said firmly.

Hikari made a soft sound of confusion, so Imakarum decided to elaborate. _-Her name is Isis now; Lord Hamilcal gave her the name and Lord Alkanphel approved it. We should respect their wishes, my Lady.-_

_-You're right, of course. It will take some time for me to break myself of the habit I have of using Isis' human name, but I think that I could manage it given enough time, my Lord.-_

_-Good. I look forward to the day when Isis joins us in her full capacity, my Lady. And the day that Sho rejoins us, as well.-_

_-I eagerly await that day also, my Lord.-_

As Hikari leaned more deeply into his embrace, Imakarum looked down at the floor of the Ark. Somewhere far below them, back on Earth, Sho Fukamachi was searching for his counterpart. As well as Aptom; the insane and dangerous Lost Number that he had somehow formed a friendship with. He would not find what he was looking for this day.

Imakarum did not know precisely _why_ Lord Alkanphel's last wish had been that the two of them refrain from making their presence known; why they had been ordered to stay on the Ark, with Lord Hamilcal as their only connection to Chronos and Earth. Still, they were both faithful servants of Lord Alkanphel, and that meant that neither of them would question their Lord when he gave them an order.

That was most likely the reason that both of them were so comfortable in the other's presence. That, and the fact that they shared so many memories; as Hikari had surmised that the case had been between Sho and Yukari Fukamachi.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

They had made it into the main laboratory by now; it'd taken them a little longer to beat down the opposition than Toshiaki had been expecting - evidentially these scientists had had at least some amount of combat training, though not anything like the Zoanoids that would be sent after them if something went wrong - but in the end the two of them were able to overcome them. It wasn't as if any of them could hope to fight on equal terms with either a Zoanoid or a Guyver. And certainly not both at once.

"The bulkheads in this area have been disabled; and the alarm systems are off," Toshiaki informed Sho, as the boy continued to glance around the room with the mien of one looking for threats. Toshiaki doubted he'd find any, but appreciated his dedication all the same. "I'm setting the security cameras to replay the footage from six hours ago until now."

His fingers danced over the computer's keyboard, programming in the necessary codes to get the cameras to loop the footage properly.

"There. Now, even if someone decides to check the security tapes, all they'll see is business as usual going on. Do you sense Aptom or Yukari in this area?" Toshiaki asked, turning to regard Sho.

Sho, for his part, tilted his head up and stared at the ceiling just long enough for Toshiaki to start wondering what he was doing. So he asked.

"I have to focus on them if I want to find them," he said.

"What about your connection to Yukari through the Guyver?" Toshiaki asked. "Can't you sense her through that?"

"No," and here Sho sounded genuinely worried. "It's like our connection was cut off, somehow."

"How could that be?"

"I don't know," Sho said, shivering slightly as he looked around the room. "I just know that I haven't been able to contact her since last month. And I- I think…"

"It's all right, Sho," Toshiaki said, trying to be reassuring. "Can you at least sense Aptom?"

"No, I can't do that, either. It might be just that his dormant body doesn't give off the right kind of signals for me to track."

"It could be," Toshiaki said, nodding. The idea made sense, after all. "Come on; we should go check out the laboratories. Maybe we'll find them."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The next thing that Sho heard was a loud sound, almost like a submarine alarm, echoing through the laboratory. Sho turned, knowing that neither one of them would have activated an alarm. And, even though Hayami had told him that the bulkheads were disabled - which meant that they couldn't be trapped in this laboratory - Sho was still worried about what might be happening.

Those alarms could be bringing guards and Zoanoids into this area even as they spoke.

"What the _hell_ did you just _do_?!" Hayami demanded, grabbing the man by his lapels and shaking him viciously.

"Hayami! The processing-tanks! _Look_!" Sho pointed to the monitor that was now showing a slightly fuzzy image of five processing-tanks that were draining and starting to open even as he watched.

"What the _hell_... It shouldn't be possible to release incomplete Zoanoids from the tanks! Zoanoids in the early stages of development are almost completely useless in combat; even if these are some new breed, they shouldn't be completed to the point where they can be safely released yet."

"Hayami, they're transforming! And they're coming right at us!"

The five newly released Zoanoids leaped and bounded across the tops of the processing-tanks that stood between them and their prey. Hissing, snarling and growling, the five Zoanoids landed in front of the two of them. The gagged scientist watched in satisfaction, even as Sho recognized the creatures they were facing.

"Those are Enzyme IIIs!" _This can't be possible! How could they have known that we would be coming in this way? And how could they have made these things so quickly? Hayami said that Zoanoids take a full two weeks to process._

A gargling scream cut into Sho's thoughts, and he looked over at the bound Chronos scientist who had been sitting next to him. That scientist was dead now, after having been impaled by the lead Enzyme III. Not wanting to put Hayami in any more danger than he had to, Sho ran away from Hayami and into the group of Enzyme IIIs that had attacked them.

Hayami may have been a Zoanoid himself, but he didn't have the advanced healing capabilities that a Guyver had. Even with the Enzyme IIIs and their ability to dissolve his armor with their acid, he could heal faster from the damage than Hayami; that was why he had to protect him. Sho was not going to lose any more of his friends to Chronos.

"Sho!"

Hayami's shout, coming when he couldn't afford any type of distraction, was something Sho had to tune out. He had to find a way of killing these Enzyme IIIs before they killed him. Firing the Head Beam into the nearest Zoanoid's chest, Sho was surprised to realize that even a wound to what would have crippled another breed - even another type of Enzyme - barely slowed this one down.

"Look out behind you!"

Turning as another Enzyme leaped at him, Sho found that Hayami had already tackled the creature. The Enzyme now seemed to focus its attention on him, forgetting that Sho even existed.

"Stay away from him!" Sho snarled, kicking the vicious, mindless Zoanoid under the chin hard enough that its head snapped back on its mobile neck just after it had knocked Hayami to the floor.

The Guyver's head sensors detected motion coming from the Enzyme almost directly behind him, but too late for Sho to do anything but be impaled by the sharp, harpoon-like spike at the end of the Guyver-killer's tail. Managing to retain at least some of his focus, Sho clamped his arm down on the Zoanoid's tail and blasted the offending appendage apart with his Head Beam.

There were still three fully functional Enzymes waiting for them, however, and Sho knew that he wasn't in any shape to fight them anymore. Hayami would have a better chance than him now, but there was no way that he would leave his friend to the mercy of those monsters.

"Hayami, hold on to me!"

Wrapping his arms around Hayami's waist, Sho leaped out of the range of the Enzyme IIIs and flew up to the catwalk above their battleground. Landing, he pulled the harpoon-like tail spike out of his arm where it had been stuck. That was when he started to hear the buzzing; like a small fleet of helicopters had been launched.

The Enzyme IIIs were flying after them now.

"Run!"

Sho, suiting actions to words, took off with Hayami not far behind him.

"There's a blind alley just up ahead, under that ventilation shaft. If we can lead them into it-"

"I think that could work!" Sho broke in excitedly. "Let's go!"

Running down the corridor, Sho heard all five of the Guyver-killers following them. Turning to confront the frozen forms of the Enzymes - Hayami's work, of course - Sho opened his Mega-Smasher and began to charge it. _I have to make this shot count, but since I don't know if Yukari or Aptom is on this level, I have to destroy these Zoanoids without doing too much damage to the laboratory itself. Well, here goes…_

The Mega-Smasher screamed out of Sho's chest, hitting and then disintegrating the frozen Zoanoids in short order. _I have to control it! I _will _control it!_ Once the light of the 'Smasher had cleared, Sho beheld the results of his attack. The building wasn't falling down on them, so that was a good thing. And all of the Enzyme IIIs were gone, so that was substantially better.

"Good work, Sho. There's not a trace of those creatures left; thank you."

"I should really be thanking _you_ for distracting them and holding them in place for me, Hayami."

"No, you probably could have done that on your own. It's not like I have the power to actually destroy those freaks of nature on my own," Hayami said, sounding uncharacteristically depressed. "I'm glad I was able to offer you at least _some _help, though."

Breathing deeply, Sho concentrated on healing the damage that the Enzyme IIIs had done to him. At least, he did until he saw Hayami stumbling and moving to support himself against the far wall.

"Hayami, are you hurt?" he called anxiously.

"No, no I'm fine," Hayami said, panting. "I must have overexerted myself when I froze those Zoanoids. I'll be all right after I have a chance to rest a bit. You did very good work with the Mega-Smasher, though," Hayami said, leaning against the wall to get what rest he could. "The monitor cameras will be deactivated for a while longer, but Chronos will most likely be sending lower level Zoanoids down to investigate the cause of the damage in this area. We should be gone before they arrive; let's get moving."

"Are you sure you'll be all right? I thought you needed to rest."

"I'll be fine, Sho. I was just a bit winded, that's all."

"All right," Sho nodded as they started walking. "Hayami?"

"What is it, Sho?"

"I'm sorry that I didn't control myself better when I fired the Mega-Smasher. If I'd have been more careful, then this wouldn't be a problem."

"That would have helped, but there's nothing for it now. Best not to think about it."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Their spy, the newly developed Zoanoid Gastahl, had just reported the progress of Sho Fukamachi and his Lost Number cohort.

Luggnagg smiled. "I've received the latest report from Gastahl; Sho Fukamachi and the Lost Number Bio Freezer have entered the laboratories on the lower levels."

"That's good," Jabir said, smiling slyly.

"Still, there is a chance that they will realize this is a trap set for them, and make an attempt to escape," Khan, who was either being contrary or simply overestimating their currant opponents, stated.

"If that unlikely scenario were to come to pass, we would know about it and be able to take the needed precautions," Jabir assured him. "I have placed concealed operatives along all the routs that these two will need to use to access the laboratory where their little friends are being held. Our welcome guests will not be able to escape their fate."

"We will want to ensure that Sho Fukamachi is delivered into our hands with minimal harm," Luggnagg said, speaking for the benefit of his more rashly inclined fellows.

"All things in due time," Kablarl demurred. "If do not take such precautions, all of our work to claim the boy's Guyver would prove to be fruitless. Besides, I am certain that the boy's little counterpart will be able to handle him quite well."

Khan gestured to the computer that had been set to monitor the vital signs of one Yukari Fukamachi. Or rather, Isis Mirabilis.


	16. Deceitful Synthetic Redemption

****

Deceitful Synthetic Redemption

"You mean he's going to try attacking this facility _again_?" Gustav asked in disbelief. "Back to Washington, of all places?"

The last time that Guyver III had paid a visit to the Arizona base, he had almost left it in ruins. And that had only been one Guyver III; his counterpart had been off conducting her own battle with the aid of the Libertus and the Thunderbolts' Proto-Zoalord.

"Indeed. I am starting to think that it is pointless for me to remain here; the Pillars of Heaven have not been under any kind of abnormal threat. And, to be honest, I am more concerned with the central seat of Chronos than I am about our holdings in Washington. I have a bad feeling about this."

"So, Gigantic Dark and those Thunderbolts of his could be coming here soon? Do you think Makishima's counterpart will be fighting with him?"

"There have been reports of Makishima's counterpart being involved in her own battles with another group of Thunderbolts. However, I expect that both of them will participate in any major attacks made against Chronos installations like this one. We cannot be so careless as to let the central seat of Chronos be unguarded for any reason. At least not until the Ark project has been completed and we have a viable fallback position. Circumstances being what they are, I will return to this facility shortly. In the meantime, I would advise you to strengthen the defensive lines and keep a closer watch on anyone trying to leave or enter the facility."

"Yes, Dr. Balkus, I will make sure to do that. And we await your return with pleasure, sir."

Dr. Balkus 'hmm'ed slightly in response, then the screen flickered off as the transmission was ended at the source. Gustav paused for a moment, pondering how best to carry out the orders he'd just been given. The voice of one of the lower-level Zoanoids - just a grunt, really - broke into his thoughts and gave him something else to think about.

"The VIP transport helicopter is about to land; I'll open up the cliffside landing pad now, sir."

"Wait," Gustav said. "Tell me who's on board."

"The passenger data lists him as a Dr. Chan," the Zoanoid said. "Part of the Development Department; he was one of the overseers for the construction of our large base in Australia. He was expected to return today."

Gustav considered that for a moment; it might have been just his own paranoia getting to him, but the fact that he now knew that Guyver III and his counterpart were coming back to make another attempt to attack the Arizona base was wearing on his nerves. Maybe it really was just stress that was making him so uneasy about the impending arrivals.

"Should I delay the landing until we can get re-confirmation of who's in the transport?" the grunt asked, evidentially seeing the indecision writ large on Gustav's face.

"No, I'm sure everything's fine. Open the hangar and notify the Hangar Five personnel to be ready to receive Dr. Chan and his crew."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Aboard the transport helicopter, Agito and Akane Makishima were waiting with their regiment of Libertus troops. And with Shizu Onuma, who functioned as their Zoalord commander. But, at the moment, Akane's mind was not on the impending attack. She was thinking about something odd that she had remembered.

It was not so much the fact that she remembered it as the fact that she had never experienced it in the first place that was troubling her. The "memory" was of Agito as a child – a child that she had never met – and her twin. That was simply not what had happened, and she should not have been thinking of Agito that way.

Agito was not someone that she could trust; he was a temporary, uneasy ally at best. The only reason that neither of them had tried to take command of the Thunderbolts for themselves was the fact that none of them could afford a power struggle at this time. Turning on one another for their own personal gain would only make it easier for Chronos to snap them up once they had inevitably depleted a substantial amount of their recourses.

It would not do to tell Agito about what she had been "remembering"; not only would it make her appear weak and mentally unfit for command, it would give Agito something to hold over her.

Feeling it through her legs when they landed, Akane moved toward the landing ramp. Their Libertus army was prepared to move out, Agito was at the head of their attack force, and Akane moved to join him.

__

+How much resistance do you think we can expect from the personnel of this base?+ Akane asked.

__

+Not enough to give us any substantial amount of trouble taking what we want.+

+Of course not+ Akane said, standing beside Agito as the transport helicopter settled to the ground.

"Dr. Chan, on behalf of everyone here at the Arizona Central Command Base, I would like to welcome you to the central seat of Chronos."

Agito smiled thinly. "Akane, do you know of anyone named Chan?"

"No, Agito," she said, moving to stand more closely beside him, smiling down with predatory pleasure at the now-visibly-cowering Chronos personnel. "I don't. Though perhaps that was the name of the man we killed when we appropriated his transport."

"You really didn't have to go to all of this trouble just to welcome us into your midst," Agito said.

"Who are those two?" the taller Chronos scientist asked, looking between her and Agito.

Surreptitiously reaching into her right pocket, Akane closed her hand around the grip of the .45 she had brought with her for just this sort of attack. True, it was not designed to work on Zoanoids, but the unprocessed humans that were a part of Chronos' scientific division would be affected well enough.

"Wait, I've heard of these two," the rotund scientist said, beginning to seem genuinely frightened at last. "That's Agito Makishima! And Akane; reports stated she's his sister!"

__

+Well, I was wondering what Chronos would come up with to explain away the fact that both of us look identical+ Agito commented.

__

+Yes; rather a convenient ruse, considering the circumstances.+

"You mean those two are the Makishima twins? The leaders of the Zeus Thunderbolt resistance force?!" one of the anonymous, jumpsuited Zoanoids in the back of the room demanded, sounding as if he was on the verge of a panic attack.

__

That would have been an interesting sight, Akane thought, with a soft chuckle.

"We must get word to Dr. Balkus at once!" the rotund scientist shouted, staring in fearful shock at them and their Libertus troops. "Hurry! We must send the reports while we still can!"

Before any of the Zoanoids could make so much as a move toward any of the hangar's many exits, Shizu had stepped forward and taken command of every Zoanoid in the room. Even – surprisingly enough – the taller, more slender Chronos scientist. Without Balkus there to hamper her efforts, Shizu was easily able to take control of the Zoanoids in the immediate area.

"Now you are cut off from Chronos' aid; everything seems to be going according to plan, eh sister?"

Akane met Agito's gaze, wondering if he too was starting to remember things that had never happened. "Indeed it is, brother. What do you propose we do with him? He certainly won't be controllable the way that these Chronos-made Zoanoids are."

"Easily taken care of."

A uniformed Libertus soldier brushed gently past her, inclining his head in a gesture of respect as he made his way down the landing ramp and onto the concrete floor where the Zoanoid stood holding the sole human in the room in his grip.

"Finish it," Agito said with cold satisfaction.

Akane took a moment to watch as the man's head imploded under the pressure that their Libertus applied to him.

"Let's move out now," she suggested. "It won't take long for Balkus to arrive, and I for one would prefer to keep him unaware of our presence for as long as possible."

"Shizu, gather our forces and follow me," Agito said, walking just slightly ahead of Akane. "We'll take the main freight elevator."

It was simpler to let him take command; to make the majority of the decisions in the campaigns that they conducted. It would be easy to learn his style of command that way, what contingencies he thought to plan for; which would make dealing with him all the more uncomplicated when the time came. There was still the matter of Shizu, but for the moment Akane was content to wait.

Shizu's presence wouldn't be a factor forever.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As they made their way onto the freight elevator, Agito could not help but watch his counterpart surreptitiously out of the corner of his eye. She was starting to become something of a non-presence, carefully secluding herself when she was not developing some new weapon, standing back while he himself took command of their combined forces. And all the while growing ever more observant.

Frankly, it was starting to unnerve him.

Both the fact that his counterpart was watching him so closely – she had to be planning something, because _he_ would have been planning something in the same situation – and because his own mind was starting to betray him. Not in the sense that he could no longer remember his goals, but in the sense that he was starting to remember things that had never – and could never have – happened.

Glancing back at Akane; Agito found that he could remember her not only as the young woman she was, but as a young girl with her hair tied up into two pigtails, fussing over his younger self as she wrapped a bandage around his scraped left knee. He could remember that Shizu had enjoyed braiding Akane's hair, then combing it out and putting it up in pigtails because she thought it was cute.

He could also remember Akane's patient endurance of Shizu's ministrations. Only none of it had happened, so why the hell was he remembering it so clearly?!

Deciding to think about that later – or never, since bringing it up with Akane would only signal that he was weak, and then she would try to take command of their forces – Agito turned his attention back to the group of Libertus that he was commanding, just as the elevator they were all standing in game to a sudden, grinding halt.

"It appears that Balkus has finally noticed our arrival," Akane said calmly.

"Yes," Agito glanced around at the waiting Libertus. "We'll exit here, then. Libertus, move out!"

They leapt from the elevator, even as he and Akane called their respective Guyvers.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

With Hayami securely on his back, Sho continued on his way up to the laboratory where Aptom and Yukari were most likely being held. At least according to everything that Hayami had said. Once they had reached the top of the shaft, Sho set Hayami down and landed.

There was another air vent in front of them, and Sho paused in front of it to consult with Hayami.

"We're on the ninety-seventh floor now; Aptom and Yukari should be here, right?"

"They should be," Hayami said, nodding. "If not, I have a few other ideas. But let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Sho nodded, silently echoing the sentiment. "If we come in through this air duct, we should be able to bypass the security that they placed around the laboratory."

"Yes," Hayami said, nodding. "Sho, can you try to sense what's going on on the other side of this wall?"

Sho focussed the Guyver's hyper-sensors forward, scanning deeply to see just what the situation was in the deeper areas of the ninety-seventh level. "There are guards, positioned every ten meters, along all of the corridors. There are also two agents in place at the entrance to the fourth laboratory."

"Only two? That's kind of strange," Hayami muttered. "What other kind of defenses are in place?"

"The walls of the laboratory are made of a special kind of steel that's four-hundred millimeters thick," Sho said, continuing his scan. "And there is a net of varying types of alarm systems protecting the doors themselves."

"I guess it's a good thing we're not going in through the doors, then," Hayami muttered. "What about the setup inside the laboratory?"

"I can sense a figure in the center of the room that might be Aptom," Sho said, trying to make the mental image resolve but only succeeding in frustrating himself. "I can't make it out all that clearly, so I think it might be petrifying quickly. There's also something else in the room..." Sho trailed off as he looked deeper into the laboratory; what he sensed there made him feel as if someone had rammed a dagger made of ice straight into his entrails. "There's a processing-tank in that room!"

Hayami started violently. "Are you sure?"

"I'm almost positive," Sho said grimly, scanning more deeply just so he could be absolutely sure about the matter. "There's only one of them, but there's someone inside it. There's also something else..."

"What is it, Sho?"

"I'm not sure," he said. "It's been happening ever since we came into Cloud Gate; I keep getting this distortion in the Guyver's sensors. I can't seem to see through it."

"I'll admit that I don't know very much about the Guyver's sensor system, but do you suppose that there could be some interference from the electronics inside the building?"

"That could be it," he said, nodding. "Anyway, we should go rescue Aptom now. And try to find where they're holding Yukari."

Climbing into the vent, Sho started forward. Once he'd gotten his body fully inside, he heard Hayami climbing into the vent behind him. Through the grates, he could see a few of the Combat Agents that Chronos had placed throughout the corridors on this floor. Once they had made it to an unguarded area at the back of the laboratory, Sho carefully lifted the grate free from it's moorings and lowered himself to the ground. Hayami did the same, managing to set the grate back in place before he settled himself to the floor.

"The Fourth Laboratory is just on the other side of this wall."

"Right," Sho nodded.

Sending a burst of concentrated sonic energy at the wall in front of them, Sho trusted Hayami to tell him if there were any Zoanoids coming. As the wall in front of them buckled and slowly collapsed, crumbling into metallic dust, Sho stopped screaming; that stopped the sonic waves. Nodding to Hayami, Sho stepped through the hole and into the laboratory.

What he saw there frightened him; it was like nothing he'd been expecting. Aptom was there, still frozen in stone like he'd been expecting, but it wasn't Aptom that drew his attention. What Sho was focussed on the figure in the processing-tank. It wasn't a Zoanoid, but it was... it was...

"Yukari..." reaching out to touch the shell of the processing-tank, Sho found himself almost overcome with rage.

Chronos had performed these sick experiments on his father and on Mr. Murakami; they'd done the same thing to Yukari's father, and to Ms. Murakami. He was not going to let them do the same kind of horrible things to Yukari as they had done to so many other people! Raising his fist, Sho prepared to bring it down hard on the processing-tank.

"Sho! You can't!" Hayami shouted, grabbing his wrist. "If that's the kind of fluid I think it is, then any sudden changes to her environment could kill Yukari instantly!"

Sho relaxed, appalled at what his anger had almost made him do. He couldn't afford to be reckless; not when the lives of his friends hinged on his actions.

"Then what can we do, Hayami?" he asked, looking between the frozen, stone form of Aptom and the unconscious form of Yukari. "Is there anything we can do to help them?"

"There should be a... Good, I found the controls," Hayami said, after a minute of searching. "I should be able to alter the composition of the fluid; and deactivate whatever traps they've set on those wires attached to Aptom."

Sho felt slightly guilty for forgetting Aptom in his urgent worry over what – he hoped was _not_ – being done to Yukari. Still, Aptom wasn't in so much immediate danger as Yukari was now. Listening to Hayami type, Sho tried not to fidget so much. Hayami would find a way to save them, both Aptom and Yukari, and then they could all go back home.

Or, at least back to the place that functioned as a home for all of them.

The sense of something on the edge of his perception startled Sho out of his worried contemplation. _It's happening again. Why do I keep sensing that there's something in the room that I can't see? I've felt this ever since we first entered Cloud Gate, but never as strong as now. What's so special about this room?_

Looking around, and scanning to see if he could locate the source of the distortion, Sho stabbed out with the Vibration Blade on his right arm. Aiming at a patch of what looked like empty air, Sho was rewarded with the pained scream of whatever it was that had been following them. The blood that splattered over the floor, along with the just-beginning-to-become-visible severed arm lying on the floor amidst the pool of blood, let Sho know that his instinct had been right.

__

I knew something had to be following us! The Guyver's sensors were picking something up, I just wasn't able to tell what it was that they were detecting.

"Sho! What the hell's going on here?!"

"That thing was following us, Hayami," he said, pointing at the Zoanoid that had just appeared before the two of them.

It looked like some spectacularly odd cross between a lizard, some animals that Sho couldn't identify, and a human wearing some sort of mask. Sho didn't know just what kind of Zoanoid this new creature was, but there was no doubt in Sho's mind that it was dangerous. All Chronos-produced Zoanoids were; it was just a matter of finding out how dangerous they were and then dealing with them. That was what he had always done, what Yukari had done, up to the point where Mr. Murakami had... taken her.

"How the hell did you find me, Guyver?! My disguise was supposed to be _flawless_!"

"I couldn't see you," Sho saw no harm in admitting. "But the Guyver's sensors kept telling me that there was something just out of my range of perception. And the strange thing was that the feeling got stronger all the time that I was in Cloud Gate, but I only realized that there was a Zoanoid following me when Hayami and I entered this laboratory. That was when I knew that you were after me."

"Sho, do you mean to tell me that this Zoanoid has been following us ever since we first entered Cloud Gate?!" Hayami demanded, sounding sick with worry.

"That's right!" The Zoanoid crowed, laughing. "And now it's too late for the both of you! My masters will never let you escape! I was sent to make certain that you didn't encounter any resistance to your entry here," the Zoanoid laughed. "This laboratory is about to become your _tomb_!"

There came a sudden, ominous crackling sound then. Like something electronic was slowly starting to overload. Turning to look behind him, since that was where the sound seemed to be coming from, Sho found that it was indeed the sound of electrical equipment overloading. The processing-tank that held Yukari was starting to vibrate, rattling and even starting to crack in places. But what was worse, what was so much worse was what was happening to Aptom.

His body was starting to crack apart, crumbling into pieces and falling to rest on the dais he'd been suspended over. Screaming, Sho ran at the dais, wanting nothing more than to pull Aptom down and try to save him in any way that he could. Burning pain lanced through his body, and Sho screamed as agony set fire to his nerves. Out of the corner of his eye, Sho saw Yukari sagging almost to the floor, held up only by the cables and monitoring devices that had been attached to her body.

She looked like a puppet with tangled strings, and Sho made up his mind about what he was going to do: if he couldn't help Aptom, and it certainly seemed that way, then he would at least make an effort to get Yukari out of that horrible tank that Chronos had put her in. Who knew what kind of things Chronos was planning to do to her?

"Hayami, please try to help Aptom," Sho called, even as he hurried over to the shattered processing-tank and started tearing off the monitors that had been attached to Yukari's skin.

Hayami had said that she might die if taken out of the processing-tank too soon, but she was a Guyver. She had to survive; she had to survive so that they could defeat Chronos, and so that they could be reunited with Mr. Murakami and his sister. She had to be all right. She just had to be!

"Yukari?" Sho called, gently brushing some of her soaking hair out of her eyes. "Yukari, please wake up."

The sound of stone shattering drew his attention the way nothing else could. Gathering Yukari in his arms, Sho turned to look at Hayami. "What's going on?!"

"Something's wrong! I can't cancel the sequence!"

"Aptom?" he breathed, watching in horror as the frozen form of his friend crumbled into irreparable shards and clattered onto the dais.

Hugging Yukari's unconscious form almost convulsively, Sho stepped forward to stare in numb shock at what remained of Aptom. He wanted to do something; fall to his knees, scream, maybe start sobbing, but the fact remained that Yukari still needed him. He'd have to be quiet, for her sake at least; she would be weak from spending so much time asleep.

Chronos had probably put her in some kind of stasis so they could interrogate her later. That was probably what the processing-tank had been for; it was the only way they could hope to keep her from waking up without having to constantly drug her. That was probably it.

The feel of warm flesh pressed against him reminded Sho that there was one thing that he had to deal with before he could get Yukari out of this horrible place: he would have to find some clothes for her to wear. Or at least something to wrap her in so she wouldn't get cold.

The sound of something scraping against the metallic floors of the laboratory caught his attention then, and when he looked he found that the Zoanoid who had been leading them into this room – this _trap_ – had disappeared again. He could also sense something else, something that made him a lot more hopeful.

"What- how could this have failed this badly?" Hayami asked, his voice rough and hollow. "How could this have happened?"

"We haven't failed yet, Hayami," Sho said, holding Yukari close as he stared at the broken stone shell that had encased Aptom.

A grunt and a scream of pain came from behind him just before he could start to wonder where the remainder of Aptom had gotten to. He and Hayami both turned, just as the Zoanoid that had been hiding in the laboratory with them was forced back into visibility, struggling against some unseen opponent. Though Sho had a feeling he knew just who that "unseen opponent" would turn out to be.

__

It's good to have you back with us, Aptom, Sho though, holding Yukari close as a humanoid arm forced its way out of the stump that was all that remained of the Zoanoid's left arm.

"What- what the hell?! What's happening to me?!" the Zoanoid demanded, looking terrified of the hand that now stuck out of his arm. "I can't move!"

Sho knew how the Zoanoid was feeling, he knew it and he didn't care. Those monsters had murdered countless thousands of people, they worked for the organization that had all but murdered his father. These ones, the ones who worked for Chronos voluntarily, didn't deserve his pity or sympathy.

As another blob of flesh grew out of the Zoanoid's neck, slowly taking the shape of Aptom's head, Sho wished for a moment that he could smile physically instead of just mentally. Aptom was going to be back with them soon, Yukari was safe; this was a good day.

"How did he manage to survive, though?" Hayami asked, finally breaking the awed silence.

"I think that there were some cells of his that managed to survive," Sho said. "Or maybe there were only a few dormant cells that were alive inside that stone casing, and the electricity provided them with enough energy that they were able to multiply to the point where they could move on their own. And since this Zoanoid was close enough to be sensed, that's what Aptom used to regenerate himself."

The Zoanoid's head dissolved slowly, melting into Aptom's neck with a soft sort of scream.

"Aptom," Sho said, relived at the sight of his friend starting to look more like himself.

Even the fact that he wasn't wearing any clothes, like he had been the first time Sho had actually gotten a clear look at Aptom's true form, didn't disturb him. Hayami and Yukari were in the same state; and Aptom had never really seemed interested in wearing clothes in the first place.

"Aptom, are you feeling all right now?" Sho asked, when Aptom continued to stand completely motionless for over a minute. "We should really get out of here quickly if we want to avoid Chronos' patrols."

Aptom raised his hand, and for a moment Sho wondered just what he was thinking. Then he found himself roughly shoved backward, even as he felt Yukari being pulled out of his arms. Then, before he could even start to think of something to say, Aptom's hand clamped down on his face.

"A-Aptom, what are you doing?" Hayami demanded. "Don't you even recognize us?!"

"Stop! Aptom, please! You have to stop this!"

Sho, feeling as if the skin of his face was being peeled off layer by layer, started to get an inkling of what it was that Aptom was trying to do. _He's... trying to absorb the Guyver? Is that even possible? Yukari! He could be trying to absorb her!_

Without a Guyver to protect her, it was possible that Aptom would be able to absorb Yukari the way he was trying to do with him. He had to protect her, no matter what happened to him!

When the tingling in his forehead that always preceded the Control Medal's activation surged through his brain, Sho saw Aptom stagger backwards, his eyes wide and his mouth open in a silent scream. Yukari's limp, unconscious form dangled from his left arm, and Sho couldn't help but wonder how badly she had been worked over by Chronos to be so tired.

Maybe they had... but no, that was impossible.

"Are you all right, Sho?"

"I'm fine, Hayami. When The Control Medal detected Aptom's invading cells, it activated one of its defense systems."

"Do you think this is really the Aptom that we know? Why would he try to attack you, and why would he take Yukari like that?"

"I don't know," Sho said, just as Aptom's right hand began to distort into a kind of bio-weapon that Sho had never seen before.

"What the- Look out!" Hayami shouted, just as Aptom fired.

Sho threw himself to the ground, just as Aptom's blast burned the air over his head. Wondering just what was going on, Sho looked up just in time to see Aptom's shot burn through the reinforced steel of the laboratory wall, and kept on going. He didn't know just how many walls Aptom's beam punched through on its way out, but he ended up being able to see dark sky and bright stars through the hole Aptom had made.


	17. DemiGoddess' Fearsome Light

****

Demi-Goddess' Fearsome Light

Jabir, through his connection to the little former Guyver girl, felt the blood rushing to her head from the way she was held on the arm of Kablarl's own pawn. He knew she wouldn't be much good to him if she was incapacitated in any way, but he also knew that Zoalords had more control over their physical functions than any mere human could hope to achieve. A few simple manipulations of the little Zoalord's circulatory system had her once more in perfect fighting condition.

He could hear the pounding footsteps of Kablarl's pawn through the ears of his own, but the only thing that he could see when he looked through her eyes was the swiftly-passing tiles of the bare floor under the feet of Kablarl's pawn. It wasn't a particularly interesting sight, so Jabir let the little Zoalord's eyes fall closed again.

Her hearing would be sufficient for telling him when the opportune moment was to set his new pawn into play.

There were a great many Hyper Zoanoids that had been sent after the Lost Number; Jabir could hear it through his own pawn's ears when he spared a thought to check.

"How is your pawn performing, Jabir? Has she been giving you any trouble?"

"None at all. Has yours been giving you any trouble, Roushi?"

"No, though it is rather interesting. This Aptom creature is a great deal more complicated than any Zoanoid."

"I would expect so, considering what the creature is known to be capable of," Luggnagg said. "And what he is."

"Indeed," Kablarl said, nodding sagely.

Jabir smiled slightly, turning his attention back to the sensory data he was getting from his own pawn. This battle would certainly prove to be interesting, if nothing else.

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As they ran, accompanied only by the sounds of their own pounding footsteps, Sho started to wonder just where all of Chronos' Hyper Zoanoids were. They had to have heard the running footsteps, and seen the blast of thermal energy as it had torn through the walls of the ninety-seventh floor on its way to the outside of the building.

So where were they?

A scraping-sliding-rustling sound drew Sho's attention then, and he turned back to the hole that had been melted through the wall. The same hole that he and Hayami had just come through. And were those tentacles gripping the outer edges of the hole?

"Hayami, look it's them!" he shouted, once the figure had cleared the hole and emerged more clearly into the light.

Yukari was just the same as she had been before, without a scrap of clothing on and with her hair hanging in her face, but two of the tentacles that had sprouted from Aptom's right side were now holding her upright. One was wrapped around her waist, pinning her to Aptom's side, and the other was curled around her neck.

Yukari's hair was longer than Sho had remembered it being, but that was probably just an effect of her spending so much time in the processing-tank that Chronos had put her in to keep her unconscious. And now at least he knew where all of the Hyper Zoanoids that were supposed to be guarding this floor had gone: Aptom had eaten them.

"Sho, are you sure this is Aptom? What's happened to him? Why did he attack you when he first regenerated?!"

"I don't know exactly why he did it. But it's possible that he doesn't really know what's going on; he might be unconscious and simply eating anything that comes within his reach."

"You think he's still unconscious?"

"It's happened to me before; the Guyver would act on its own to protect me when I lost consciousness. I think the same might be true for Aptom. He's... he's different than any other Zoanoid that Chronos has ever made. I think he might be in the same situation I was in when... Enzyme II attacked. I think his first instinct was to find something else to feed on to restore his body."

"What about Yukari? What's going to happen to her?"

"I don't know," he said uncertainly, but the sight of the hole that had been melted in the outside wall of Cloud Gate drove all other thoughts out of his mind. "We made it! We're almost out!"

The view of the city at night was something that Sho hadn't had many opportunities to see, but he didn't take time to enjoy the sight. He couldn't; not with Aptom, still appearing as that bizarre conglomeration of Hyper Zoanoid forms and still with Yukari's unconscious body clutched in his tentacles. Yukari's head bounced slightly with each one of Aptom's heavy footfalls, and he couldn't help thinking of how uncomfortable she had to be.

"Sho!" Hayami called. "We can escape this way!"

With that, the large, heavy Lost Number leaped out of the hole in the wall, falling even as Sho used the Gravity Controller to catch up to him. As the two of them fell through the air, Sho willing himself to fall faster so that he would be able to catch up to him; so that he would be able to save him.

"You can't fly!" Sho admonished, once he had caught Hayami. "You shouldn't have tried to do something impossible!"

"I'm sorry. I just thought that if I could get you out of there, Aptom wouldn't be able to try and eat you again."

"Well, thank you. Still, you didn't have to do something like that."

The sense of something in the air behind him, more precisely the sense of something dangerous at Cloud Gate, distracted him before he could find out if Hayami had anything else to saw. There was an entire platoon of Vamore in some kind of balconies; no, there were several platoons of Vamore in those balconies. They were gathered around the two of them, and they were clearly getting ready to fire.

"Those are Vamore!" Hayami shouted.

"We'll need to get out of their range," Sho said, as he pushed his Gravity Controller for all the speed it would give him. "What the hell are those?!"

This was in response to the three batlike, flying Zoanoids that were assaulting them now. They circled like vultures for a moment, before forming themselves into a tight group. Sho, losing his concentration as he started to wonder just what these new Zoanoids were and what they could do, started losing speed until he stood still in the air.

That gave the batlike Zoanoids - powerful bio-Sonar equipped models called Vikarr - time to form up into ranks and fire their weapons. Sho, moaning and then screaming in pain as the Vikarr concentrated their sonic attacks on his Control Medal, fought to stay in the air.

"Sho?! Is something wrong?!" Hayami asked, turning awkwardly to face the Guyver.

As the Vikarrs' sonic blasts continued to strike home directly on Sho's Control Medal, the Guyver twisted and writhed. Finally, he fell from the sky entirely; his body paralyzed and his arms still locked around Hayami's waist. Their point of landing, or rather point of impact, was to be the helipad of a building next to Cloud Gate but substantially shorter than the headquarters of Chronos' Japan branch.

Sho slammed into the roof, taking most of the impact of their fall with his more durable body. Hayami, the less injured of the two, was the first to struggle to his feet.

"Sho, are you still conscious?" Hayami asked; it would have been obvious to anyone with eyes that Guyver I was not okay.

"Hayami?" Sho groaned, turning his head slightly to check that his friend was all right. "We're lucky to be alive," he mumbled, taking in the half-destroyed state of the surrounding rooftop.

"Yes," Hayami concurred, standing and looking around their impromptu landing site. "I'm glad you were there to help brake my fall, though I still wish you hadn't needed to."

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The flapping of wings in his ears – her ears, rather – was loud enough that Jabir was tempted more than once to disconnect from that part of little Isis' sensory perception. But it was useful for him to know exactly what was going on around him, and being limited to sight and tactile senses would have made him a less effective combatant in this situation. The flapping of the three sets of wings, and the muscular tentacles wrapped around "his" neck and waist, were just minor inconveniences that he had to deal with.

It was really a small price to pay for the chance to capture Sho Fukamachi and learn just what Richard – and by extension Regina – Guyot had wanted with it.

Once the six wings had stilled, he was pleased to note that neither Guyver I nor his Lost Number compatriot seemed to know what to do in this situation. They were just standing there staring at them; easy pickings.

When Khan unwrapped his pawn's tentacles from the waist and neck of Jabir's own pawn, he forced her to stand on her feet. It would be interesting to see what the boy made of this new development.

"Well, I see things are going just as planned," Khan said, his deep, cultured tones coming through in place of the Lost Number's normal voice.

"Aptom?!" the Lost Number standing next to Guyver I demanded, clearly horrified.

Guyver I, for his part, seemed to be focusing more intently on Jabir's own pawn. "Yukari?! Yukari, are you all right?!"

Slipping more fully into his little pawn's mind, taking more complete control of her nervous and muscular systems, Jabir smiled. Looking more clearly through the girl's eyes, he found that Guyver I was staring more intently at him, or rather the girl he appeared to be, rather than Khan's own pawn.

"Yukari? Are you awake?"

He grinned at that, pulling the girl's lips upward and baring her teeth at Guyver I. This, to see whether or not the boy would be willing to fight two of those that had once been his friends, would be very interesting.

"Well now, I was wondering when this body would finally start making some sense to me," Khan said. "This body is very different than a Zoanoid's, I see."

"That voice... That can't be Aptom!"

"I believe you're right about that," he said, speaking through the girl's mouth. "But then who do you think it is?"

"Yukari? Is that really you?"

"Not at the moment," he said, reaching up to clear the remainder of the girl's long hair from her eyes. "But you're welcome to try and guess what I am now, Sho Fukamachi."

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Those eyes again; those horrible yellow eyes were staring at him again. Seeing them staring out of Yukari's face was almost as bad as seeing those same eyes looking out of Mr. Murakami's face; he couldn't deal with this, not so soon after doing all he could to rescue her from Chronos. And now, to confront her like this...

He just _couldn't_.

"You!" he demanded of the person who had been speaking through Aptom's mouth instead. "Who are you?!"

"So now you realize that I'm not that Lost Number, eh? Very observant, Sho Fukamachi. I am Kablarl Khan, one of the Twelve Zoalords. This body is now completely under my control; I was unfamiliar with using it at first, but I thank you for giving me the time I needed to figure out how this body worked."

So that was why Aptom had been so unresponsive to anything he tried; that meant that it was _his_ fault that Aptom was under this Zoalord's control. He was the one that had waited so long without doing anything.

"But that's impossible," he spoke without really knowing why; needing something to cling to when the foundations of his world seemed like they were starting to crumble. "Aptom shouldn't be affected by the mental waves of any Zoalord! He's not even a real Zoanoid anymore. This can't be happening!"

"Silence, Guyver I. Or perhaps I should call you Sho Fukamachi?" the Zoalord paused to chuckle. "You may have been able to escape from Akarigaoka, but you will not escape this time!"

The- the _thing _that had once been Yukari laughed at that pronouncement. "Oh, you most certainly won't; not unless you're willing to fight your way past us. And I don't think you can do that," Yukari's arm – someone had to be controlling her too, probably one of the other Zoalords – raised and a ball of light the size of a baseball appeared in her right hand. "Can you, Sho Fukamachi?"

Khan fired the bio-lasers in Aptom's chest, just as the other Zoalord made Yukari leap forward. The ball of energy in her hand slammed into the rooftop, blowing out a large crater. Yukari – or whoever was controlling her – grinned at him and gathered another ball of energy.

Some of her hair had fallen over her left eye, and the Zoalord quickly made her clear it. Still sick with the magnitude of his failure, Sho braced himself to fight. It wasn't going to be easy, but it was what he had to do to save the people who meant so much to him; those who had become almost family.

Or, as in Yukari's case, were the only family he had left.


	18. Divergent Natural History

****

Divergent Natural History

They had made some headway against the legions of Hyper Zoanoids that had been set against them, but now they were stymied by the three Zoalords that blocked their path. It was all rather annoying, really. Still, one could not expect that Chronos would let two Guyvers intrude into their most heavily guarded base lightly.

"How dare you defile our most sacred place with your vile bodies; traitorous children!"

Folding her arms over her chest in mild annoyance, Akane glared up at the arrogant form of Dr. Balkus standing over them. Metaphorically of course, since the Guyver did not have a movable face.

The old man was surely the most aggravating of the Zoalords, if not the most dangerous. Still, the presence of the other Zoalords was troubling; she had an especially foreboding sensation from the Zoalord named Waferdanos. She had no data on him; none of her moles within Chronos had ever managed to discover anything useful.

And now... well, she honestly doubted that any of them were still alive.

"Now that you have fallen into our hands, neither of you will have any chance of escape! You both die today, betrayers!"

Agito started laughing at that; for what exact purpose she wasn't entirely certain. It could have been simply to infuriate the Zoalords that they were now facing them. It certainly seemed to have unbalanced Waferdanos; her brother had- _NO! He is NOT my brother! I have no siblings; no equals. The fact that he shares my last name is only a coincidence; just an artifact of our presence in this place. He's no more my brother than Sho is Yukari's._

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When he saw Akane tense slightly, he almost turned to ask her what was wrong; but her troubles were not any of his concern. Despite what his traitorous mind was trying to tell him – that he loved her, that they cared for each other, that they were in fact twins rather than simply two different versions of the same person that had somehow ended up meeting – he was not going to involve himself in her troubles. He was going to defeat these three Zoalords and take what they were attempting to protect.

"If Akane and I were to get into a serious battle here, then this underground base of yours will be doomed to collapse, yes?" he'd stated it both because it was true, and because it was bound to enrage the Zoalords; arrogant as they were, they were bound to attack sooner than later. "That Advent craft that you're guarding would be shattered beyond all recovery if that were to happen; not to mention the central seat of Chronos which is built above it."

The Zoalord on the right, who appeared to be the youngest of the trio, grunted briefly in obvious annoyance.

"This cannot be avoided," Balkus said, causing both Zoalords to focus on him though his gaze remained fixed on them.

"Dr. Balkus, what are you-?"

"We cannot afford to squander this opportunity," Balkus continued, speaking over the younger-looking Zoalord. "Now that we have these traitors, two of the most dangerous enemies that Chronos has encountered, in our grasp they cannot be permitted to leave here alive. Besides, I am certain that Lord Alkanphel would be willing to pardon us if this fossil was destroyed. Even the central seat of Chronos is secondary to ridding ourselves of these brats."

"Are you certain-"

"Listen to me, traitorous children of Chronos!" he said, once more speaking over the Zoalords who were obviously his underlings. "Today is the day that you pay for your crimes in full! Today is they day you die!"

"I doubt that even you have the power to kill both of us!" Akane taunted. _+Agito, it seems clear to me that they will focus most of their efforts on you. After all, there are few greater threats to them than the Gigantic Guyver.+_

+Did you have something in mind, Akane?+ he asked; reminding himself again not to fully trust her. As he did, Akane would look out for her own interests above anything else.

__

+I think it would be possible for me to get closer to them; they will be likely to underestimate me because I don't posses the Gigantic.+

+It's possible; you're aware of our goals, yes?+ he asked, putting a subtle stress on the word 'our' to see how she would react.

__

+I am.+

The lack of reaction was well-played; just what he would have done to avoid giving away his own motivation. She was too much like him, really; only one of them could survive and triumph. Though things were bound to become more difficult for them now that the strange, hirsute Zoalord named Waferdanos had encased the Relic in a shield of his own living hair.

The fact that that very same hair was even now attempting to attack him was not doing his equilibrium a lot of good, he had to admit. He only hoped that Akane – as much of a threat as she clearly was – would be able to make it past this mass that was attacking them.

__

+What the hell is this?!+

+I'll deal with it+ he said, hoping that what he said was going to be true. It would be annoying to admit defeat to a mass of hair, to be sure.

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While Khan's pawn battled the little Guyver boy, Jabir was having a great deal of his own fun dealing with the Lost Number that had been so foolish as to think that an accident of genetics would save him from the wrath of not one but two Zoalords.

The fact that the little girl he was controlling just happened to be a friend of the annoying Lost Number was just something of a bonus. Though it was still rather entertaining. Watching the Lost Number trying to avoid doing damage to the girl, even as he used her body and power to assault the little renegade, was truly enjoyable.

Commanding his mindless, obedient little pawn to attack again, Jabir settled himself more comfortably into what little remained of the girl's consciousness.

Firing a Gravity Bullet from his/her right hand and watching as the Lost Number dodged, Jabir twisted and fired a shot from the girl's left hand that seared the would-be Zoanoid's shoulder and sent him reeling off balance. Of course, before he could move to capitalize on the damage that his little puppet had done, the annoyance of a Lost Number had blanketed the entire area in freezing mist.

It was all rather bothersome.

__

-Jabir.-

-Hamilcal? I wasn't expecting to hear from you. Do you need something?-

-Isis.-

-Well,- he paused, jerking his puppet out of the way of a swipe from the Lost Number's talons. _-Could you give me at least one more minute? I seem to be having trouble dealing with the Guyver's Lost Number companion.-_

-No.-

With only that single word of warning, Jabir found his conscious forcibly ejected from Isis' mind. Finding himself standing back in the room with Luggnagg and the insensate form of Khan, Jabir found himself chuckling.

"What could possibly be funny?"

"I should have expected Balkus to be abrupt," he said, still chuckling soft. "The man wanted his little pet back; who am I to argue, eh?"

Luggnagg saw the humor in that, of course.

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Taking full control of Isis' body, he activated her transformation even as he forced her to teleport to the site of their battle against Guyver III and his annoying counterpart. She would be significantly more useful to him than to whatever plans that Jabir had the mind to think of. Even more so, once either of the Dark Guyvers had managed to unmask her.

The face of Yukari Fukamachi, while it would not likely be enough to dissuade either Makishima from attacking, but the unexpected nature of what had been done to their comrade was almost certain to create openings that he would be able to exploit. And, even if it did not, he was still fully capable of using Isis' body and powers to their utmost.

Neither Guyver III nor his irksome counterpart would ever expect the array of powers that he had equipped Isis with.

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His research into Chronos' records had turned up some rather unsettling things. Or, not unsettling so much as very strange. What had once been two sets of records, each without so much as a reference to the counterparts of Guyvers I and III, The two Murakamis or Guyot had instead become a record of four sets of twins. Since it would not have been possible for an infiltrator to come into this facility and tamper with the records without being detected by their security measures, and since there was no evidence of invasion or tampering...

That would mean that somehow, history was becoming mutable. Even his own memories were starting to become suspect... he was indeed beginning to recall things as they were not as opposed to things as they were. He could remember reports of the destruction caused by the Murakami _twins_ as opposed to damage done by a single man – or woman – on their own.

This situation would bear looking into more closely, but for now what Fried'rich was more concerned about was Shin's position. He was alone in the Japan Section with those three traitors; it was more than likely that they would attempt to harm in some way. Either for interfering with their mad, treasonous plan, or as insurance that he would never be able to.

__

-Shin?-

-Fried'rich! It's wonderful to hear from you again, but you sound worried. Is something wrong?-

-There is something I have to tell you, Shin. It concerns all of the loyal Zoalords of Chronos.-

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While it was mildly amusing to see her br-counterpart struggling within the bonds of something that looked like nothing more than a pile of hair, there was another part of her that worried for him. Part of her wanted to rush in to cut him free, part of her was unsure whether she would be able to act when the time came... part of her was going to die once they left this cavern.

She was not going to let anything – even her own traitorous thoughts – hinder her from reaching her goals.

Suppressing the troublesome thoughts and emotions, the memories that had never been her own, Akane was almost completely unaware of the long strands of animated hair creeping towards her. And certainly unprepared to deal with them. 


	19. Diffuse Fractured Mentality

****

Diffuse Fractured Mentality

"If I am prevented from moving, I can always cut myself free," he stated calmly.

"Fah, those high-frequency blades of yours are rather troublesome," Waferdanos said. "Still, I wonder if you will be so willing to attack once you find out what is truly at stake?"

Before he could formulate any kind of response, he heard Akane's agonized screaming. She was now fully entangled in the mass of hair that he had just managed to escape, and in her normal Guyver form she entirely lacked the advantages that had allowed him to free himself from their grip. She was likely to die if he didn't help her... and _why_ was that so damned unappealing to him?!

Akane was dangerous; she had all of his capabilities, all of his ambitions, and like him, she would not hesitate to turn her powers on him when the time came. Once either of them had outlived their usefulness, the other would be sure to attack.

But now, there was a part of him that insisted that Akane cared for him, that he could trust her... it was insane! The only thing that he could trust Akane to do was to look out for her own interests the way he did. All he had to do was remember that, and he would be able to continue with his plans in the absence of a particularly dangerous variable.

The only problem was that his treasonous emotions had decided to interfere with his logic; there were even times he started to want to believe that she was his sister. Believe that he hadn't been alone all his life, surrounded by people that could never be his equal. A part of him wanted to believe that there was someone he could trust completely.

It was stupid and irrational, and more than likely to get him killed in his current situation, but it was how he felt. He could acknowledge that, even though he intended never to speak of it to anyone.

As Akane's screams grew louder and more pained, making it clear that she would likely not survive much longer without his intervention, Agito made his decision. Dangerous to his plans or not, for the moment Akane was still useful to him.

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The pressure on her limbs was nearly unbearable, the strain making her feel as if all her limbs would detach if she was subjected to this torture for a prolonged period. She couldn't hear anything over the sound of her own screams; and worse was the fact that the only person she could count on to aid her in this situation was also the one who she could never truly trust.

Her arms, and by extension her Vibration Blades, were completely paralyzed by this point. The hairs were even starting to force themselves into the air vents on the sides of the Guyver's face. She could feel herself becoming light-headed as her supply of oxygen was slowly but steadily cut off.

It would not be long before she was forced to make a choice: release her hold on the Guyver armor, or suffocate within it. Of course, that was really no choice at all. Akane would never allow herself to be taken the way that Yukari had been, she was not weak the way that girl was.

She would not become a prisoner of Chronos the way that Yukari had; Akane would die in her Guyver before she would let anything of that sort happen.

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Seeing the Dark Gigantic showing so much indecision, Dr. Balkus smiled tightly. Waferdanos had been correct in his hypothesis that, with history seemingly rewriting itself to include these newcomers, even Agito Makishima would not be able to write off someone he saw as a member of his own family.

Under these circumstances, Isis was likely to prove even more useful to Chronos than she had been originally. Sho Fukamachi would never attack someone he thought to be his own sister; the boy was far too weak to ever do such a thing as that. Isis would be able to tear into him with impunity, and even if she happened to be injured by one of the boy's less idiotically sentimental allies, her own accelerated healing would quickly take care of any wounds.

Isis was the perfect weapon to use against one such as Sho Fukamachi.

Still, the fact remained that right now they were not dealing with Sho Fukamachi at the moment. Agito Makishima and his ersatz sister were the ones facing them now. It was them that Isis and the other Zoalords would have to deal with.

"What will you do now, boy?" Waferdanos demanded. "Will you merely stand there and watch as I crush your sister to death?"

He would have wondered why the girl had stopped screaming, that is if he had not known that Waferdanos' Villus Subjecti were more than capable of cutting off an enemy's supply of oxygen. The girl was more than likely hovering on the edge of brain death by this time. Under other circumstances, he would have been pleased by that.

But these were not those circumstances; if the host of a Guyver Unit were to die or even to lose consciousness for an extended period of time, then the self-defensive instincts of the Unit would become active. While that would cause almost as much trouble for Agito Makishima as it would for them, Dr. Balkus was not willing to pay such a price merely to eliminate a single Guyver.

No matter _how_ troublesome the woman in the armor had proven herself to be.

__

-Waferdanos, I would suggest that you let the Guyver breathe,- he said. _-We certainly don't want the creature going rampant.-_

-Yes, of course.-

Just as Waferdanos was starting to loosen the coils of his Villus Subjecti, the long, elastic blades of the Dark Gigantic lashed out and sliced through the thick bands of Villus Subjecti that had been wrapped around the aggravating girl. Makishima was troublesome, but still rather predictable.

As Akane – or as he was starting to think of her, Guyver V – pulled herself free and shook the remaining pieces of Villus Subjecti from her armor's carapace, Dr. Balkus sighed in annoyance. He may not have wanted the girl to die, but that was only because of the fact that her Guyver would have gone rampant without her mind to control it.

And now they were faced with two Guyvers once again; it was all very annoying.

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As she and her Libertus forces moved deeper into Chronos' Arizona base, Shizu couldn't help but wonder how Master Agito and Mistress Akane were doing. It was a brief thought, quickly obscured by the more immediate matters of keeping herself and her soldiers alive, but it was constantly at the back of her mind. It was a silly thing, really, Master and Mistress had constantly proven that they were fully capable of taking care of themselves and each other.

Hence there was no reason for her to worry about either of them; still, the worries came unbidden whenever she had a quiet moment.

Such moments were rare indeed, though, considering that there were only five of her Libertus against the hundreds upon hundreds of Zoanoids stationed here. Including her, their forces were a seemingly paltry six warriors. Six against hundreds; but because of Master and Mistress' cunning, that was all that would be needed.

Even as she paused to heal one of her injured Libertus, revealing herself as the most pivotal and dangerous of their opponents, Shizu still wondered just how Master and Mistress were faring. She certainly hoped that her efforts were useful to them, even if only in a small way. There was nothing she wanted more than to help them; it was what she had committed her life to.

Concentrating, she felt the minds of the Zoanoids gathered around her. Fearful and almost instinctively submissive, they would not be able to resist commands from one such as her. That was the other reason that she had been made into this: a Zoalord would be able to command Zoanoids even if they weren't directly affiliated with her.

__

-Those are your enemies,- she said, commanding the Zoanoids as she did her own Libertus and directing their attention to the newly arrived group of Chronos Zoanoids. _-Kill them; it's time you joined forces with the Libertus.-_

Watching the Zoanoids as they slaughtered their way through their would-be comrades side-by-side with her Libertus forces, Shizu also made sure to keep her senses open for anything that might be able to threaten her. These wasn't so much of a chance of that, she knew, but it was always best to be prepared.

After all, no one had thought that a Guyver could be in any danger from anything, and then Yukari... It was just best to be prepared, that was all.

"We've cleared this area, Griselda," the foremost of her Libertus troops, a man by the name of Kyle Reece, said as they all kneeled before her. "Do you have any further orders for us?"

"You did extraordinarily well," she said. "Knowing Chronos, I doubt they will send any more reinforcements now."

The Libertus would act to protect her, both because she commanded them and because they all fought on the same side. They all fought for Master and Mistress, to make the dreams they held so dear come true. Now, without the urgent threat of Zoanoids attacking from all sides, Shizu had some time to think.

It was odd, being so deep within the enemy's stronghold the way they all were; knowing that Master Agito and Mistress Akane were deeper still. They were three thousand meters beneath the surface of the Earth, but far beneath their feet, Master and Mistress stood. Perhaps even looking upon Chronos' 'sacred treasure' even now; the dormant Advent craft that Balkus had more than likely built this entire base to shelter.

No one but a Guyver could walk into one of those ships without being killed, she honestly doubted that even a Zoalord would be able to do such a thing. The sudden feeling resonating through her crystal distracted Shizu from what she had been thinking about. _This feeling I have, it's almost exactly the same as the one I had when I was facing Balkus that last time in Washington- but then that means-!_

"Griselda? Are you not feeling well?" Kyle asked, Shizu ignored him.

__

There are Zoalords in the caverns! That means that Master Agito and Mistress Akane are in danger!

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Finally free of that suffocating, all-encompassing hair, Akane had very few desires aside from her immediate one to leap at Waferdanos and tear him limb from hirsute limb. Such a course of action would have likely proved instantly fatal, however, so she held herself back with some effort.

"So, you managed to free both yourself and your sister from the grip of my Villus Subjecti," Waferdanos scoffed, unknowingly causing Akane to growl deep in her throat. "An impressive feat, I'll grant you that much. But do you insolent brats really think that you will be able to survive challenging three of the Chronos Overlords?!"

"It's as I said before: you brats have sentenced yourselves to death with your treasonous actions," Balkus growled.

__

+He's really beginning to grate on my nerves, Agito.+

+Yes+ her counterpart answered, sounding rather incensed himself. _+Not only has he managed to arrive before us, but he also managed to convene Yentsui and Waferdanos. Taking this Relic of theirs is not going to be easy.+_

+Especially now that it's been covered by Waferdanos' hair+ she growled again, annoyed at the persistence of these Zoalords as well as the fact that they had somehow found out about the memory troubles she was suffering from.

"Villus Subjecti! Capture and restrain those two brats! Crush them in your coils!"

"It's useless!" she heard Agito shout, even as she dodged to the left of the fast-moving hair that made a grab for her legs and then leaped into the air. "Even if these 'Subjecti' of yours are strong enough to resist steel blades, our High-Frequency blades can slice through any substance at the molecular level!"

__

+Akane, we'll attack from two sides. We should have a better chance of doing at least some damage that way.+

+Yes+ she acknowledged, altering her flightpath so that she would be coming in at an almost perfect right angle to her... _counterpart_.

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When Makishima and his annoying sister – it was simply less time-consuming to think of the brats that way, even if it was not technically correct – leaped into the air and started attacking, he and Yentsui raised their hands to shield themselves- just as Waferdanos raised a large amount of his Villus Subjecti in front of them.

"Waferdanos, what are you _doing_?!" he demanded.

"You've created a barrier of your hair to block our attacks," Agito laughed. "But we've found out your limitation! Since you've layered the cavern with your 'Subjecti', you can no longer raise an energy barrier to protect yourself or your comrades!"

Dr. Balkus was almost angry enough to unleash Isis on the brats, but he knew that – puppet that the girl was – she would not be useful for these kind of maneuvers until Lord Alkanphel was able to return the little, female Zoalord to full consciousness. She would be just as loyal to Chronos and Lord Alkanphel's cause as Imakarum and his ersatz sister. But now was not the time to use her; Isis' time would come.

"And now, we've found a solution to this little problem you've presented us with!"

Before he could even begin to attempt to unravel the rather cryptic statement that Akane Makishima had made, both the Dark Gigantic and Guyver V – the female version of Guyver III, but it was starting to become more difficult to think of her that way – fired the sonic weapons that all Guyvers possessed in place of mouths.

"Yentsui! Protect Waferdanos!"

"Yes, sir!"

Even as he took control of Isis' body and directed her to raise her own forcefield to further aid Chronos' Third Zoalord, Dr. Balkus noticed that the two Makishimas were not even aiming at them.

"Their target seems to be-"

The rest of what Yentsui was most likely about to say was cut off by the horrible, resonating explosion as the two blasts struck the fossilized husk of the Relic the four of them were standing on.

"The Relic's covering has been destroyed!" Yentsui shouted, even as the three of them who were capable of independent thought turned their eyes and attention back to the two Guyvers that were making such a nuisance of themselves.

Seething as he watched the twin Dark Guyvers, the lithe form of the female Guyver III/Guyver V following close behind the oversized behemoth that was Gigantic Dark, flying at the exposed outer hull of the Relic.

"Nothing, not even the Relic, can resist the Gigantic's Gravity Ram!"

"Yentsui?!" he exclaimed in shock, as Chronos' Seventh Zoalord leaped from their position at the top of the Relic.

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"Hua sho shen!" he bellowed, feeling the rush of energy through his body as he shed his falsely harmless-looking humanoid form and took on the shape of the Zoalord he had been recreated as.

Even the Dark Gigantic, dangerous as it had proved itself to be on many occasions, would not be a match for the power he could command. Very few things were, in fact. Neither of those traitorous children would be able to withstand his power, no matter what they thought of themselves.

"My Gravity Ram is powered by plasma jets and protected by a barrier!" the boy shouted arrogantly. "Even if you decide to attack us, you'll never get through my shield!"

He would have told the boy what kind of power he held, just what his Jue Kong Zhan was capable of, but there were some lessons that the brats would have to learn for themselves. Even the fact that Makishima's sister broke off before she could fly through the gate that he had opened did not phase him; the girl would fall even as her brother did.

Perhaps it would even be to his advantage that the Makishima siblings had been separated this way...

"What the _hell_ just happened?!" Akane Makishima demanded, stopping in mid-flight to stare in what he could only surmise was incredulous shock at the sprawled form of her twin.

"Come now, children," he said, knowing that their arrogance would not allow them to tolerate being belittled in such a way; they would definitely attack him for that, and all the better. "Why are you both so indolent? Did you not say that you were going to attack me with your Gravity Ram just now?"

The snarl he could only just hear coming from Akane Makishima's throat very nearly made him chuckle aloud. He may not have known precisely why the truth of her situation drew such a negative reaction when it was stated, but he would not fail to take advantage of such a thing now that it was known to him.

"If you will not be the first to attack me, children," he said, pausing just for a moment to relish the annoyance his words had to be causing them. "Then I will attack you first."

Using his Jue Kong Zhan to transfer himself to the side of Gigantic Dark, Yentsui held himself still and waited for the boy's inevitable assault. It was not long in coming. Redirecting the heat beam that the boy fired at him to a preselected destination, he smiled tightly as he heard Akane Makishima's howl of agony.

He could not hear what the girl was saying to her brother; likely as not they were communicating telepathically so that they would still be able to present the façade of being united, despite the face that Akane would doubtless have been angry with her brother for what she would have to see as an unprovoked attack. Clearly, Agito was not simply going to stand by and do nothing as his sister blamed him for something he knew was not his doing.

When all six of the dark Gigantic's elastic Vibration Blades launched toward at him, Yentsui chuckled softly as they passed through his Jue Kong Zhan. Akane would not be happy about this turn of events; when he heard the girl's scream, Yentsui smiled softly.

"You were so proud of the abilities of your Vibration Blades, Agito," he said. "And now, it seems your claims have been proven quite true. You should be pleased with this demonstration," he smiled in passing, before electing to throw the boy a proverbial bone. "In that way, your weapons bear a strong resemblance to my own Jue Kong Zhan. The fact remains, however, that while your Blades physically interact with the object when they cut it, my Jue Kong Zhan instead cuts through the space that object occupies. As well, the space that divides the two halves of the object can be as long or as short as I desire it.

"More than that," he said, using his Jue Kong Zhan to tunnel through the space between himself and the Gigantic Dark. "I can also use it in _this_ manner!" he exclaimed, just for the sheer amusement value in seeing Gigantic Dark lunge backwards in the manner of a startled horse.

Both of the Dark Guyvers had always acted so high-and-mighty, so untouchable, that it was quite enjoyable to see them when they clearly knew they were out of their depth here. Or perhaps they did not know yet, in which case it would be his pleasure to show them.

With the aid of his Jue Kong Zhan, he scattered a pair of portals around Gigantic Dark. His sister made a game attempt to fly to his aid, but he quickly redirected her. Directly into the far wall of the cavern they were battling in, and like her brother before her Akane Makishima failed to turn aside in time to keep herself from slamming into the wall with the full force her speed had imparted to her.

It really was quite amusing.

Turning his attention back to the dark Gigantic, knowing that he would be able to sense - and hence deal with - the arrogant boy's sister if she attempted to assault him again, Yentsui used his Jue Kong Zhan to generate a large portal with the boy directly in the center. Now, all he would be required to do was close the portal, and Chronos would be rid of a particularly powerful, dangerous annoyance.

__

Farewell, Gigantic Dark; I will be sure to give your sister my regards before I send her to meet you in the afterlife. Today is the day you die! Duan!

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Finding himself with the very unsettling sensation of being – very suddenly – in two places in the same instant, Agito was understandably shaken by the experience.

__

+Agito- what the hell?! What's happened to you?!+

+I would appreciate if you would tell me, Akane!+ he said, feeling just the slightest bit hysterical. _+Because I! Don't! Know!+_

Forcing himself to calm down – if he did anything else in this situation it was more than likely he would die – Agito pulled his body to the left, out of the strange distortion – the "Jue Kong Zhan" as that Zoalord had called it – that had cleaved his form neatly in two. The sudden pain in his left shoulder, combined with the wet 'thump' as part of it fell to the ground, let him know that he had not been entirely successful in his efforts at escaping.

There was not even enough time for him to catch his breath, before the strangely lithe figure of Yentsui was once more darting about him like some kind of alien dragonfly. It was annoying, but it only became clear how dangerous the situation actually was when he realized that Yentsui was not in fact attempting to confuse him by moving around this way.

"Jue Kong Zhan!" the Zoalord bellowed, and the air around him shivered.

"No!" Akane shouted; Agito himself could feel shouts building up in his own throat, seeing the lower half of his body hovering in the air next to Akane's lower legs.

__

+Akane, use your gravity controller and follow me!+

Pulling himself out of the gate he had been stuck halfway through, he turned his attention to the Zoalord he and his... _Akane_ were facing. _I think I'm finally beginning to understand the situation. This power, this Jue Kong Zhan of his is quite a formidable weapon. This could prove to be very troublesome._

+How would you suggest we go about this, Agito?+

Not responding – he would be damned before he would ever voluntarily confess a weakness to Akane – he tried to find some flaw, something that he could exploit, that would give him a – relatively – quick and painless victory over this Zoalord. Something that he would, preferably, be able to utilize to defeat Balkus and Waferdanos as well.


	20. Denunciation ET Deus

**Denunciation ET Deus**

Even as he watched, Isis standing beside him like the obedient puppet she had been recreated as, Dr. Balkus felt the first stirrings of anger within him. He had first tried to persuade Yentsui not to use his abilities; it was not for the Makishimas to know what kind of opponents the Zoalords truly were. More than that, both Yentsui and Waferdanos were fighting to protect him, as if he could not do anything for himself.

As if he was merely the helpless old man he appeared to be.

_Yentsui, Waferdanos, the two of you are not alone here. Facing these ungrateful children, I-_

"Please, leave this in our hands, Dr. Balkus," Waferdanos said; Dr. Balkus had not been aware that he was projecting. "I know you intend to transform into your battle form to aid Yentsui in his struggle, but I would strongly advise against it," the large, hirsute Zoalord said in a tone of genuine worry. "I know you have great power, but you should reserve it solely for protecting Lord Alkanphel. I know that Yentsui would agree with me on this matter. Just wait; wait until we clearly have no other options. Allow Yentsui and I to take our turn dealing with these whelps."

Nodding, even as he directed Isis to stand a pace in front of Waferdanos; if it came down to that, he could use Isis as his puppet in this battle. It was what she had been designed for, and even if she had been able to form or express any opinions, they would not have mattered. Isis was a Zoalord; hence she fought to protect Chronos and Lord Alkanphel's interests like any loyal Zoalord.

On the battlefield, the Dark Gigantic seemed to be conferring with his sister; most likely trying to make some sort of a plan. Whatever their attempts it would be futile, they could not hope to engage Yentsui in long-range combat. Even those arrogant brats could not think to attempt that again after what they had been subject to, arrogant those brats may very well have been, but neither of them was particularly stupid.

The two Dark Guyvers broke apart, both heading for the ceiling of the large cavern that they were all battling in. Waferdanos, however, quickly wrapped his Villus Subjecti around their legs and pulled them back down into the center of the Jue Kong Zhan. The Dark Gigantic was split in half lengthwise, both halves hovering in the air, one half next to the Dark Guyver's lower thighs and legs, and the other suspended next to the girl's upper thighs, body, and head.

If Yentsui were to close his Jue Kong Zhan now, he would at least have been able to kill Agito Makishima. Still, like himself, neither Yentsui nor Waferdanos would have been satisfied with merely killing Agito and not his annoying sister as well. He could see Waferdanos' Villus Subjecti pulling the struggling form of Guyver V into Yentsui's Jue Kong Zhan. The girl kicked and struggled, of course, but she was no more a match for the Villus Subjecti than her brother had been.

Especially in light of the fact that Akane Makishima did not possess the Gigantic the way that her brother did.

Agito, however, was beginning to become something of a problem himself.

_-Yentsui, just cut him down! We can deal with that other little brat later.-_

_-Understood.-_ "Duan!"

A brief explosion of blood, along with the severed tendrils of Waferdanos' Villus Subjecti, fell to the floor of the cavern. Once the blood and tendrils had fallen away, though, they revealed that Agito Makishima had not in fact been killed. While Akane Makishima had both legs entirely severed and was bleeding profusely, Agito was merely missing a single leg.

The action that Makishima had taken to free himself was obvious from the condition of his body. That fact, however, did not make his actions any less annoying. Still, it was not unexpected that either of them would be willing to sacrifice their bodily integrity for their ultimate survival.

They were not the kind who could do anything less.

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_-Was there any particular reason you wanted to come this way?-_ he heard her ask.

Her; the woman he was starting to think of as a sister rather than one who simply shared an altered version of his form. One who, if his memories were correct – and he was starting to forget that they weren't – had shared every important moment of his life, and a fair amount of the unimportant ones. He had discussed the new 'memories' that he had started having, only to find that she had been privy to them as well.

To be more precise, she was remembering the same things that he was, only from a different perspective.

_-Call it misplaced nostalgia if you want, but I have always thought it a good idea to keep a close eye on one's enemies, even those as pathetic as these.-_

_-Well, that's another way we're similar; and in fact it was why I followed you. It's interesting: this was the house of the man we killed, before Alkanphel decided we weren't 'fit' to be Zoalords any longer. I wonder just how our little friends are coping with that.-_

_-Yes; sometimes I wonder about that myself.-_

It was not the uppermost thought in his mind, of course, but it was still an interesting thing to consider. What he was more interested in contemplating was this new situation he found himself in. Having a sibling – even if the manner in which he had gained such a thing was odd in the extreme – was not something that he had ever expected.

Still, the memories that he had of the woman named Regina Guyot were rather intriguing. Enough that he wanted to take the time to fully understand them, rather than just acting impulsively. After all, impulsive actions had been what had gotten him into this sorry situation in the first place.

Best that he learned all he could, then made a decision.

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Yukari was gone, but from what he had seen – what Chronos had done to her – he knew that she had probably been gone for a long time. It was just one more reason to hate them; one more thing that they had taken from him: his father, Mr. Murakami, Ms. Murakami, and now his sister. The only remaining member of his family; the one person he had been sure that Chronos wouldn't have been able to take from him.

Apparently he had been wrong; he hated being wrong about things like that. Being wrong meant that he had failed, and failure wasn't something he could accept. Not after what he had seen Chronos do.

Both to the world, and to his friends and family.

Still, the fact that he didn't have to face... the Zoalord that had once been Yukari made this battle just a little bit easier. It could never be truly easy; Aptom was a friend even if he hadn't been family, and now he was being controlled by one of Chronos' Zoalords. Sho was determined that Aptom would not suffer that way forever.

Even if he couldn't save Yukari right now, he was determined that Aptom wouldn't remain a slave of Chronos and their Zoalords any longer. He would fight for his friends; he would _protect_ them.

The ground, still smoking from when Aptom – or rather Kablarl Khan – had fired the laser in his chest, was scored by a deep trench. Something that looked eerily like the trenches carved into the ground by the Mega-Smasher. It was kind of a morbid comparison, Sho reflected; this – this _creature_ – was almost the complete antithesis of the Guyver.

"So, you did manage to avoid my last shot," Khan chuckled darkly. "A pity. Charging this weapon leaves me temporarily vulnerable, and firing tends to severely exhaust me; at least until I manage to restore this creature's energy. I must admit," Khan somehow gave the impression of smiling, despite his lack of lips. "This Aptom creature is quite intriguing. And, while I may not be capable of using my bio-laser as rapidly as I might wish, I can still use _this_!"

Sho was forced to leap to the left, as the long, misshapen, spiked clublike thing that had replaced Aptom's left arm crashed suddenly into the ground where they had both been standing only a second or so before. He only had a second to pause and catch his breath, before the spiked club was moving again. Rocketing across the ground, heading for- _Hayami_?!

"Mr. Hayami, look out!" he shouted, throwing himself between his friend and the spiked club that had been about to hit him.

The club tore across his back, ripping through bio-boosted flesh and almost knocking him to the ground. Crouching as he tried to get his wind back, Sho turned as he heard Hayami speaking.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he said, still breathing heavily. "It was just a shallow wound, I'll recover."

"What are you waiting for, Guyver?" Khan demanded, laughing horribly. "Surely you know that it's completely pointless for you to try to continue evading me the way you've been attempting to!"

"I'm not going to be forced into a fight by you, Khan," he said, as forcefully as he could. "I didn't come here for that! I'm here to save Aptom from you and the other Zoalords!"

"It's no good talking to him, Sho," Hayami said, and Sho thought that he would have looked sad if he'd been in human form. "It's not really Aptom that we're dealing with, not anymore. He's under the control of Kablarl Khan, one of the twelve Zoalords. Just like Yukari."

"Yes; you're correct that this body is completely under my control," Khan said, seeming somehow to leer at them. "But this is still the body of your little friend Aptom. If you injure this body, your friend will feel the pain. And, if you were to attempt to kill me, your little friend would be the one to die," Khan chuckled evilly. "Of course, you would be perfectly welcome to test that; why not try firing the Mega-Smasher at me. Or would that be too much for you?"

Sho felt like he was choking, like there was something lodged in his throat. He knew it was rage, the slow burning anger that he had carried for Chronos since the day they had burned down his family's house and forced him to leave his hometown. Since the day Dr. Balkus had taken his father and turned him into a Zoanoid whose only purpose was to kill him. Since Mr. Murakami and his sister had been killed, and then taken by Alkanphel to be made into Zoalords.

Since... since the day his own sister had been kidnapped by someone who had once been one of their closest friends.

"There are, at present, seven full squadrons of Vikarr in the air above and around us," Khan said, either oblivious or uncaring about Sho's distress; he probably would have laughed if he knew. "Also, there are the multiple bio-blaster types that stand arrayed against you in the balconies of Cloud Gate. You will not be able to escape from their weaponry. Nor will you be able to find a way of escaping from me. You have no choice but to fight your little friend; you will not manage to escape again, Sho Fukamachi."

Sho couldn't help but sigh; this was Aptom, he didn't want to hurt someone who had done so much to help him. But it was starting to look like he wouldn't be given a choice in the matter. He could only be grateful that Yukari wasn't here anymore.

Her presence could only have made the situation worse.

"What's the matter? Aren't you going to attack? Hmpf, one would think you didn't even care about your little friend. Now, your Guyver IV – Agito Makishima – would have been perfectly willing to attack me. His sister, Akane – Guyver V – would have also been more than willing to attack me if it was one of her friends I had in my grasp," he laughed, harsh and mocking. "Still, even when it is your own life at stake, you would not be willing to kill one of your friends. Your sister shared this same defect; and we both know what happened to that little girl. Sho Fukamachi; it's your own pathetic morality that makes you such a laughably ineffective warrior!"

"What?!"

"His morality?" Hayami demanded, sounding as confused as Sho himself felt. "Someone who hides behind the face and body of a friend would presume to judge a person like Sho for what you see as flaws? A coward like you has no right!"

"Oh?" Khan turned his attention to Hayami, and Sho couldn't help the feeling that that wasn't a good thing. "And what would a freak of genetic-engineering like you know about that, Lost Number? You and your kind; a pack of worthless abnormalities, immune to the telepathic directives of your proper masters because of a simple accident of biology."

"You're _wrong_! I submitted myself to processing voluntarily, so that I would have the power necessary to fight against you and all that Chronos stands for! So that I could avenge my friends who died because of you!"

"Then you'll die first, defiant worm!"

Khan's spiked, clublike arm shot out again, and Sho watched its progress. He would have thought that Hayami would have been able to dodge it; apparently he would have thought wrong. The spiked club, now extended to a length almost twice what it had been when Khan had merely been aiming at him, followed Hayami like a bloodhound that had caught his scent. Running to intercept, hoping he wouldn't be too late, Sho slammed the palm of his hand into the space between the spikes and held the club fast.

"Kablarl Khan! You'll never understand why we fight against you; why Hayami and I can never forgive Chronos for what they've done!"

"I suppose you would see fit to enlighten me, then?" Khan said, all but snarling. "Let me go, you loathsome brat!"

"We're fighting to protect the bonds of friendship and trust, and more than that, for the right to be a human being!"

Tensing his grip, he crushed the spiked head of the club, sending chunks raining down on the roof of the building where they were standing. 'Aptom almost gave his life to save me, the least I can do now it save him from Khan now. Oh Yukari, I wish I could rescue you, but all I can do now is work to save Aptom. I'll free him, and then I'll find a way to free you from Chronos.'

He could see Khan – in control of Aptom's body, but no less a Zoalord for all that he hid behind a familiar face – staring in shock at the stump of what had once been one of Aptom's arms.

"So the little twerp is willing to use his claws after all. I suppose I might have underestimated you, boy," Khan chuckled. "Yes, I know your kind well; you won't stop fighting until one of us lies dead on the ground here." With those ominous words hanging in the air between them, Khan began to charge the laser-emitter on the right side of his chest. "Very well, I'll just kill you both and have done with it!"

"Hayami, move! He's going to fire!"

As they both dodged to opposite sides, evading the burning energy beam that Khan fired at them, Sho wondered for a moment why he would continue to use a weapon that even he acknowledged left him vulnerable to attack whenever he fired. What was the point of such a thing?

"Well, since you seem to be having such an easy time evading my weaponry, I should adapt to that," Khan sneered. "Though I do so prefer the direct approach!"

When Khan flung his left arm into the air, Sho wasn't quite sure what to expect. The flesh twisted and writhed, transforming from a club into something that looked like a widened sword, or a spear, with spikes on the end. _What is that thing?_ Sho wondered, knowing that this was what he would have to face next.

"That- that's almost exactly like the Guyver's high-frequency blades," Sho gasped, looking on horrified shock as Khan's new weapon blew a nearly calf-deep hole in the roof.

"Yes; a near-perfect mimicry of your little toys," Khan chuckled darkly. "Only the point of this weapon will destroy anything it comes into contact with! This high-frequency spear of mine will not be so easily evaded. So, Sho Fukamachi, are you prepared to try again?"

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Watching the battle from Cloud Gate's observation and control center, Shin could not help but to wonder just what had happened to draw young Isis away from the battle. It had been obvious that the girl had been under the control of one of the three Zoalords – Khan, Jabir, or Krumeggnik – who had been responsible for Fried'rich's near-death, but as to what could have made the girl leave so suddenly... he could not understand.

It was possible she had been drawn away by a more powerful Zoalord, but he did not know who would have needed the services of such a Zoalord as Isis.

"Keep the battle from expanding into the surrounding areas!" he commanded, turning his attention back to the battle in front of him; he hadn't the luxury of thinking about those who were no longer present. "Confine them to the terrace of the south tower of Tokyo town hall! Bio-blasters and bio-sonar types, surround them! Make sure none of the combatants leave the field of battle!"

"It's confirmed that Aptom is the one attacking; Aptom's arm has mutated into a new form, akin to the Vibration Blades on Guyvers I, II, IV and V. Aptom seems to be acting in an even more aggressive fashion toward Guyver I," the Zoanoid manning control reported.

"Jabir, Krumeggnik, and Kablarl," he said, studying the battle as it played out before him. "Have there been any reports on their whereabouts?"

"I'm afraid not, sir," one of the other Zoanoids, a Bresnel, said as he bowed slightly. "We're currently using all of our resources to track them, but quite a few of the monitor cameras have gone down. Also, the fact remains that these are three, united Zoalords. It would be difficult for us to do anything if we were the ones to find them, your Excellency. We're only Zoanoids; if they gave us orders or tried to misdirect us with their telepathy, we'd have no way to resist them."

_It's strange that Aptom, of all creatures, would be willing to attack Guyver I after going through all that trouble to protect him. He may be a Lost Number, but he has demonstrated exceptional loyalty in the past. One of those three has to be behind this. One of them must have been controlling Isis as well. But that still does not solve the problem of finding them. Since they remain unaware of Fried'rich's survival, they are likely to strike at me, thinking that I am the final obstacle to their dominion in this Section._

_-Fried'rich, are you well?-_

_-Yes,-_ his longtime friend and confidant said. _-It is good to hear from someone familiar, at least. I don't know exactly why Dr. Balkus has ordered my to stay within the confines of the Arctic base, but I confess that I have been rather bored here.-_

_-I suspect I know why you were ordered to remain there,-_ he said.

_-Indeed? Will you share this insight with me, then?-_

_-Three of our own, Jabir, Luggnagg, and Kablarl, have attempted to rebel. Imakarum was the first one to realize this, after what they had attempted to do to you.-_

_-Yes, I remember that; Luggnagg shooting me in the back and then attempting to leave me for dead. It's odd to think that I owe my survival to Guyver I's twin sister,-_ he mused, sounding vaguely perplexed. _-To think that I will be required to, in all fairness, thank her once she has been allowed to regain her own mind.-_

_-Yes,-_ he chuckled softly. _-These are rather interesting times for Chronos, I must say,-_ he sobered. _-Still, I hope you will heed Dr. Balkus' advice and stay away from the Japan Section.-_

_-Don't worry, old friend, I fully intend to. Take care of yourself. However, I will expect my Section to be in good condition when you return it to me,-_ this last was said with gentle good-humor, and Shin found himself smiling.

_-You've no need to worry about that, my old friend. I will see to it that your Section is returned to you in perfect condition. Perhaps even better than when you left it to me in the first place.-_

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Sho breathed deeply, trying to figure a way around that high-frequency spear that Khan had just deployed. One touch would rip through his armor, through his _body_, like tissue paper. But he still had to save Aptom from being enslaved by Chronos. He would not give up; there had to be something he hadn't thought of yet.

There _had_ to be.

"Well, boy, are you ready to start again?" Khan taunted. "If you're not, too bad!"

The high-frequency spear shot out, trailing the mass of elastic tendrils that kept it tethered to Aptom's body and hence under Khan's control, and slammed into the rooftop with shattering force. The tip gouged craters in the concrete, and the spear followed him with the determined, dangerous persistence he had come to expect from the Zoalord he was facing.

He hadn't been expecting the speed, though.

"So how was, boy? This awesome destructive power that I now wield? One touch from this high-frequency spear of mine will grind your body into dust!" Khan laughed raucously. "Now, boy, which would you like to lose first? Your hands? Your feet? Or perhaps I should just start at the bottom and work my way up, eh?"

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Their conversation finished, and mutual reassurances having been exchanged, Shin found his attention drawn back to the battle playing out on the screen before him. While Aptom's behaviour was mysterious and out of character for the kind of man he had seemed to be, Shin could not comprehend Guyver I's reasoning for refraining from summoning the Gigantic armor to his aid. It did not make any sense; the boy was clearly losing, being brutalized by the Lost Number who had once seemed determined to protect him, and only surviving by a slim chance.

It was inconceivable that the boy would not want to survive; he had made it clear through his actions that he would not lay down his life for anything less than the complete destruction of the Chronos syndicate. And now, to see him seemingly beaten this way... It was nothing like he had ever expected.

Conversely, it was possible that he was looking at the situation from the wrong angle. It was possible that what prevented the boy from engaging the Gigantic was not a lack of will or fortitude, but simple circumstance.

"Sir, four of our Vikarr troops are maneuvering to land on the roof of the town hall building," the Zoanoid manning the main control console informed the room at large; Shin was displeased in the extreme to hear such news. "Um, did you send orders for any of the troops to land, Excellency?"

"Of course not!" he snapped. "Recall them at once!"

"Sir!" he acknowledged with a quick bow. "Vikarr troops, return to your assigned heading at once! Repeat: Vikarr troops, return to your assigned headings and make no attempt to land!"

Waiting, watching for the expected change in the trajectories of the flying Zoanoids, Shin could see nothing of the sort. So, he made his own efforts at regaining control of the situation.

_-Vikarr, hear me! You are not to interfere in the battle between Aptom and the Guyver I, return to your previous course at once! Vikarr! Vikarr, respond!-_

It was impossible that any Zoanoid could resist commands from a Zoalord: they were bred to obey, engineered to be perfectly loyal to their masters, and yet these three continued to dive straight down into the battle that they had been specifically ordered not to participate in. There was only one explanation: another Zoalord had to be interfering with the reception of his telepathic commands to those Vikarr.

There were only three who would do such things; it was only a matter of finding them, now.

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There was really nothing for him to do, now that that irritating old man Balkus had decided to lay claim to Isis. So he was left with the substantially less interesting, though no less vital, task of monitoring and interrupting Shin's telepathic commands to the Japan Section's Zoanoids in this area.

"Well," Luggnagg said, chuckling. "I think Shin has finally noticed that his telepathy is completely unable to reach these Zoanoids. Still, there's nothing he can do about it, especially now with the two of us free to countermand the orders he's trying to give, eh Jabir?"

"Yes," he chuckled briefly. "I suppose in that sense, it's even a good thing that Isis was taken from this battle by Dr. Balkus. We might have had some trouble dealing with Shin if the little girl was still present," sobering as he looked toward the last member of their little cabal. "Kablarl, you're toying with your prey a little too much. Remember, there is still Shin to deal with. You should finish the boy now."

"Don't rush me, Jabir," Khan said, sounding slightly chiding. "If I were to vaporize everything but the Control Medal, the boy would simply regenerate, and everything we have done against him would count for nothing."

"Yes; you're right of course," he conceded. "Still, speaking on that matter, do either of you think that a direct hit from the Vikarrs' sonic waves would do any substantial damage to the Control Medal?"

"Hrmm," Luggnagg cupped his chin in thought. "It's clear that they don't have the power to destroy it. This was aptly demonstrated when the Vikarr were first deployed to attack the boy. The only thing they would be able to accomplish would be paralyzing the boy, as we have seen. Still, the fact that the Control Medal is attached directly to the brain of the host, it would be very likely to cause Sho Fukamachi a great deal of pain."

"All the more reason to do it, then," he said, chuckling with mordant good humor.

"Yes," Khan laughed. "I would tend to agree with you both. All games must eventually end, and this one is no exception. I grow tired of it."

When he started to feel the powerful resonance from Khan's Zoacrystal, Jabir couldn't help but imagine the terror that Sho Fukamachi had to be feeling. It was rather amusing, and soon they would be able to study the Guyver at their leisure. This day was shaping up to be a rather productive one.

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Khan was relentless, using all of the weapons – all of the speed and mobility – he had stolen from Aptom, to attack him and Hayami while they were trying to rescue Aptom from him. Sho was starting to hate him more and more with every attack he threw. Every time the high-frequency spear pierced the tarmac where they stood, Sho would find himself imagining driving his Vibration Blades into Kablarl Khan's head. Only the fact that Khan was hiding behind Aptom - Sho still owed him for all that he had done, and he would never turn on a friend - kept Sho from wanting to plunge his Blades into the head of the monstrosity in front of him.

"This game ends now! I'll grind your bones into _dust_, Sho Fukamachi!"

The high-frequency spear lashed out again and again, tearing into the concrete and digging craters that would have come up to Sho's mid-calf if he had stepped into any of them. There weren't so many craters as there had been before, but that was only because Khan was aiming for his back instead of his feet. Screaming as sudden pain lanced through his left ankle, Sho fell to his hands and knees.

"Sho, are you all right?" Hayami exclaimed, running to his side and helping him to his feet. "That thing really did a number on your ankles. Do you think you'll be able to stand?"

"That doesn't matter!" he yelled, knowing that he had a much better chance – as a Guyver – of surviving whatever attack Khan had in mind next. "You're in more danger than I am, Hayami! Keep your wits about you!"

They were surrounded on all sides by Zoanoids; he knew that there had to be Zoanoids in the building beneath them, and the Vikarr still circled above them like vultures. It wasn't a good situation, but he would be more capable of withstanding it than Hayami.

And, at the very least, the Guyver would be able to heal him if and when he was injured. The way it was doing now. As the wounds in his ankle drew themselves closed, Sho shifted his weight slowly off of Hayami and back onto his own feet.

He would have to be careful of getting injured again, especially considering the fact that he would have to deal with Khan's high-frequency spear. Sho wished for a moment that he could use the Gigantic, but Agito was using it at the moment. Even if he could have called it back to him – he didn't know if that was possible, and he wasn't going to risk trying when Hayami could be hurt if he failed – he knew that Agito would have had a valid reason for using it.

"Sho, behind you! Look out!" he heard Hayami shout.

Turning, just as three Vikarr swooped down almost to the level of the rooftop, he only had about half a minute to wonder just what was going to happen, before the huge, batlike Zoanoids were upon him. When they started shrieking en masse, Sho screamed right along with them as his head exploded in fiery pain.

He could vaguely hear Hayami yelling something to him, and Khan trying to taunt him about something, but he couldn't spare any attention for either of them.

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Watching as Sho Fukamachi suffered under the sonic barrage of three Vikarr – three of _his_ Vikarr, Shin fumed – he studied the boy's movements.

"The Guyver I seems to be paralyzed by the sonic-waves of the Vikarr troops," the control-Zoanoid stated. "Sir, the Vikarr are still not responding to our orders."

Narrowing his eyes at the figure on the screen, Shin considered his next course of action. It was clear that the three rebel Zoalords were making a bid to claim the Guyver for themselves. That was not a good thing: Dr. Balkus had plainly stated that only the Thirteen Overlords knew about the Guyver and its secrets.

It was very possible that this was only the first stage in a much more extensive rebellion on the part of the Chronos Overlords. That was why only Lord Alkanphel could be allowed to obtain a Guyver unit; anything else would cause the complete collapse of the Chronos syndicate.

Lord Alkanphel's loyal puppets, Imakarum and Hikari Mirabilis, had been charged with the recovery of a Guyver unit. He could only pray that they were successful.

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When he heard Sho screaming, Hayami's first instinct was to use his Hyper Freeze ability to kill them. But his Hyper Freeze required a direct line-of-sight to his opponent, to get that with these Vikarr would require him to stand up on the railing – a hard enough prospect considering how narrow the railing was, doubly so considering that they were under attack – and lean back far enough that his chest would be directly pointed at the Vikarr.

Sho had stopped screaming, and now merely stood with his head cocked slightly back. He wasn't moving, and there was an odd, crackling light coming from his Control Medal.

"You're rather troublesome, Sho Fukamachi," Khan cackled. "Still, bad luck has caught up to you now!"

Leaping in front of Sho before Khan could fire, or launch his high-frequency spear, Hayami held himself between the helpless Guyver and his opponent.

"Heh," Khan scoffed. "You're rather annoying, yourself. I suppose you can both die together!"

Before Khan could do anything, Sho started twitching and screaming again. The Guyver burst open, peeling apart and vanishing behind Sho before any of them could react. _His armor, it's _gone_! I didn't think that was possible!_

The Guyver was gone, leaving Sho standing – unconscious and completely vulnerable – as Khan looked on in predatory glee.

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"How could _that_ have happened?" he exclaimed, surprised at what he had just witnessed.

"Where did the Control Medal go?" Jabir wondered aloud.

"It and the Guyver both seemed to vanish into that sub-dimension that the armor inhabits when it's not in use. Of course, without the Guyver, Sho Fukamachi will be completely helpless."

"Well, it's a good thing that we didn't kill him. All the secrets of the Guyver would have been lost to us if the boy were to die."

"Yes," Luggnagg stated. "In the meantime, we should take the boy into our custody before he regains consciousness."

"Yes, of course," Jabir said.

Kablarl could feel the resonance from Jabir's Zoacrystal as his younger student gathered his energy and sent his orders to their Vikarr squadron.

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Hayami, staring up in horror as Sho was swept away by a pair of Vikarr that had descended from the sky like vultures diving on a corpse. It was so much like what had happened with Yukari; he couldn't allow it to happen again. Nothing like what had happened to Yukari could ever be allowed to happen again.

"Sho, fight them! You have to wake up! Get away from them!"

But nothing happened; Sho continued to hang, limp and unconscious, in the talons of the Vikarr. No matter how long or how loudly Hayami called to him, he didn't seem to notice.

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The twin Guyvers were becoming swiftly more annoying, despite the fact that they had both been deprived of a good percentage of their limbs. Their tenacity would have been admirable, even welcome, if they had not chosen to renounce their ties to Chronos and betray the very company that had given them both a home and a safe shelter while they had grown from helpless children.

And now, it seemed as if Waferdanos would be forced to withdraw from this battle. Problems on top of other problems. Still, Waferdanos had not been forced to withdraw yet; there was still a chance that they would win this battle quickly, it was only a matter of how.

"Yentsui, my friend, let's finish this here!"

"I understand!" he called back, glancing down at the kilometers of Villus Subjecti.

He found it rather hard to believe that Waferdanos, as powerful as he was, was about to be forced to withdraw from this battle. However, he had seen the signs with his own eyes; he knew what was going to happen. Holding himself steady, in position for this ultimate attack that they would soon launch, he heard Dr. Balkus calling to him.

_-Yentsui, take Isis at once! This is what she was created for. She will be able to aid you immeasurably in this battle.-_

_-Of course,-_ he returned, grateful to have one of Dr. Balkus' creations on hand. Even if the creature had no mind of her own, she was bound to be of some use; he had heard the reports of her abilities from Fried'rich van Purg'stall. _-I thank you for your concern, Doctor.- Come to me, little puppet._

Grasping – what passed for – Isis' mind with his telepathic power, he commanded the girl to leap from the top of the Relic, just as Waferdanos began what would be his final attack. He called it the 'Mad Dance of the Wicked Lance', and the name certainly gave a fair indication of what the attack was capable of. Splitting his focus slightly, he ordered Isis to run up the middle of one of the Lances as it twisted and spun through the air.

Dashing through the air, he opened a portal between the Lances, one of which Isis was running atop, and the Gigantic Dark. The boy screamed as both the Lances and Isis' energy-bolt tore into his shoulder. The boy's annoyance of a sister attempted to come to his aid, and while Waferdanos was prepared for such an act on her part, it was still rather irritating to have to deal with two such able combatants at once.

The fact that Akane Makishima was somewhat less powerful than her brother made her no less dangerous.

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They were all around her, twisted spears made of that damned 'Subjecti' that that thrice damned Waferdanos commanded as if they were merely one more part of his body, writhing and spinning through the air as they tore into anything they could reach with the ferocity of an industrial drill. She had seen what they could do to stone, and had no desire to experience the ferocity of those drills for herself.

When the Subjecti started appearing out of nowhere, doubtless the work of Li Yentsui's 'Jue Kong Zhan', she had to radically alter her flightpath to avoid having her arm ripped off at the very least. Waferdanos and Yentsui had been shouting abuse at her br-_counterpart_, but she would not have been surprised to find that he had ignored it in the same way she had. What their enemies said was of far less importance than what they did.

_+Akane, get close to me. We'll deal with these 'Wicked Lances' together!+_

_+I'll be with you in a second,+_ she said, ducking and weaving out of the path of the Subjecti that was trying to rip into her limbs and body. _+Do you have a plan, incidentally?+_

_+Not quite a plan, but I do have something of an idea. I also have one more card to play.+_

_+What would that be?+_

_+The leg I severed to free myself from the Subjecti that Waferdanos had used to capture me still exists. Unlike the shoulder and legs that we were deprived of earlier. As well, I can still feel my connection to it through the Guyver.+_

_+Well, that _is _a welcome piece of news,+_ she said, even as she was forced to dodge again as a thick coil of Subjecti came racing straight for her throat.

Just as she was about to reach- Agito's side, however, something green and blurry darted in front of her, and she found herself having to change direction extremely quickly to avoid being slammed into the wall by her own momentum.

_+Akane, what happened?+_

_+Yentsui,+_ she growled deeply in her throat.

_+I might have suspected as much,+_ he hissed, sounding no less angry than she felt. _+I suppose that we will simply have to conduct this battle on two fronts. Still, I wonder why both of them seem to be so eager to force us out?+_

_+Yes,+_ she mused, slashing through a fat coil of Subjecti with a few short, staccato swipes from her Vibration Blades. _+I would have almost been willing to believe that they simply wanted us gone, but they are both acting too nervous for that to be true.+_

_+Whatever their motivation, I would say that they are getting desparate.+_

_+Yes. This could very well be the chance that we've been looking for.+_

Whatever their differences, she and Agito were in agreement about this one thing. _Only_ this one thing.

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The boy was tenacious, both of the Makishima siblings were that very thing, and even with Isis to reinforce him it was becoming wearisome. He knew very well that their time in this battle was limited; Dr. Balkus had taken the time to explain to both himself and Waferdanos that he had activated the this facility's self-destruct system. Under no circumstances were the Makishima twins to ever leave this facility; no matter the cost.

When Agito came barreling straight for him, Yentsui was at first unimpressed. The boy had not demonstrated even one iota of the skill that would have lead him to consider the boy a threat, and even if the boy had demonstrated such faculty, there was still the matter of his Jue Kong Zhan to contend with. He truly had nothing to fear from the Makishima twins.

It was only once the boy had managed to actually travel through one of the gates of his Jue Kong Zhan that Yentsui began to feel the first stirrings of what might have been called fear in a lesser being. However, he still had Isis to deal with anything the boy might attempt against him.

As well, he was not without skill in his own defense.

As the boy continued his progress through the gates spaced between the two of them, Yentsui quickly made his move: opening another gate just in front of his body, he waited for the Dark Gigantic to clear the remaining distance between them. There was no chance that the boy would be able to see this newest dimensional gate in time to avoid being hurled into the far wall of the cavern.

Of course, such plans as those he had put into motion took no account of the actions that his fellow Overlords might take. Specifically, they did not account for the fact that Waferdanos might see his predicament and attempt to give aid in the only way that he could.

And, as much as he might be grateful to the other man for his help, Yentsui could not help but feel a slight irritation. The Gigantic Dark had, by dint of studying where the Villus Subjecti appeared and disappeared, managed to find out just where the gates of his Jue Kong Zhan were place.

Waferdanos' action, therefore, was almost certain to cause him more trouble than help.


	21. Death and Life

****

Death and Life

The boy flew at him, screaming for his death and completely unaware of the fact that he was flying into yet another dimensional gate. He would not be able to escape this fate; he would be slammed into the wall of the cavern, and Waferdanos' Villus Subjecti would rend him into nothingness.

Before he could begin to consider the threat of Akane Makishima and thus to formulate a plan to deal with her, he sensed something swift-moving flying at his back. Turning to look over his shoulder at the projectile that was moving to strike him, Yentsui found that whatever it was it spun like an airborne circular saw.

And then he had no more time for contemplation, as he found himself flung through the very gate that he had opened in hopes of defeating the Dark Gigantic. That, however, was not the worst of his problems... The sudden twisting, tearing pain in his limbs, head, and body left him half-blind from the force of it; reeling and unable to concentrate well enough even to command Isis to assist him.

When the dimensional gate that he had opened began to close for lack of power, he at first thought that he would be cloven in two. But, not a second after Waferdanos' Villus Subjecti had torn into his body, did he feel a pair of slender arms wrapping around him and pulling him through the swiftly-closing dimensional gate.

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When Waferdanos had made his attempt to assist Yentsui, as impulsive as the action had been, he had decided that he had better hold Isis in reserve until Yentsui's strategy had either succeeded or failed. When Waferdanos' Villus Subjecti tore into Yentsui's body, he had Isis by the younger Zoalord's side in the time it would have taken a human to blink twice. One of the Villus Subjecti tore into her body as well, opening a hole twice the size of his fist between the flesh of her waist and the right side of her hip.

If Isis had been conscious to feel the pain of her wounds, the fact that her right leg was hanging by a mere few shreds of flesh would have likely been as debilitating for the girl as Yentsui's own wounds were for him. As would the fact that she would not be allowed to heal herself until Yentsui was completely well and able to fight this battle. In what could be construed as an attempt to atone for his earlier miscalculation, Waferdanos wrapped both Isis and Yentsui in the coils of his Villus Subjecti and set them atop the Relic once more.

Now, there was only the matter of finding out just what had pushed Yentsui through his dimensional portal in the first place. But then, even as he watched, the object stopped spinning and revealed itself as the right leg of Gigantic Dark.

"You didn't think these 'energy amps' of the Gigantic's were so limited as to merely be useful for storing energy, did you?" he chuckled deep in his throat, with all the arrogance of one who would defy Chronos. "They are, in fact, fully capable of channeling the energy from the three gravity control orbs. Combined with the dual Control Medal, it forms something of an information-network through the boost-dimension. Even if both my arms and legs are severed, with the Power Amps in place I will still be able to recall them back to my body with ease. As you just saw," his immobile face turned to regard Yentsui and Isis as the latter worked to heal the former. "A pity I couldn't deal with those two persistent annoyances, but you can rest assured that I will find a way to do so."

"You will die for your insolence, _boy_!" Waferdanos bellowed. "Even if it takes all of my remaining power, I will annihilate you, Guyver IV! You _and_ your worthless gnat of a sister!"

That prompted Guyver V to fire a blast from her Pressure Cannon at them, a blast that was easily absorbed by Waferdanos' Villus Subjecti.

"If you don't have Yentsui to hide behind, then your mighty Villus Subjecti is just a tangled pile of hair!" Agito taunted.

"We've nothing to fear from you!" Akane added, most likely to reassure herself and her arrogant nuisance of a brother. "We'll be the ones annihilating _you_, old man!"

"You'll _die_ for your insolence, arrogant _brats_!" A storm of Villus Subjecti shot up into the air, nearly obscuring the Dark Gigantic and Guyver V from view. "This cavern is layered with endless coils of my Villus Subjecti! They will rip into you from all sides, children! This is my ultimate technique, the Wicked Lance Enveloping Circle!"

The mass of Villus Subjecti, already blocking most views of the Dark Gigantic and his annoying sister, began to spin with more ferocity. That is, until they all began to stop at once. Steaming and beginning to lean ever so slightly toward the ground.

Even before Waferdanos spoke, Dr. Balkus knew what he was going to say.

"My time in this form is over," the ancient being said, with a soft sigh. "Very soon, they will begin to emerge once more."

He had known from the moment that Waferdanos had first entered the battle that this scenario would come about if he was forced to fight for too long. Waferdanos had never been human; unlike all the other Zoalords, Waferdanos' human form was a false front meant to cover what he truly was. Waferdanos had no battleform, but he was perhaps even more dangerous for that.

After all, it was not every Zoalord who could call forth an army from their own body. Not even Lord Alkanphel was capable of such a thing.

Even as he watched, the true Subjecti began to emerge from the steaming coils of the Villus Subjecti.

"My subjects, it's time for you to awaken! It is time for my kingdom to be reborn at last!" as the Villus Subjecti continued to give way to the army of Subjecti that was emerging from them, Dr. Balkus turned to regard Waferdanos once more. "Here, Dr. Balkus; I return my Zoacrystal to you now."

Looking once more upon the inhuman face of the being he had met all those centuries ago on that lonely island in the North Atlantic, Dr. Balkus felt a swell of hope. Yentsui would be fine, under Isis' care he would soon be back on his feet and able to participate in this battle. And with Waferdanos and his Subjecti now fully able to fight, the two children who had started this battle in the first place would die.

This he was completely certain of, and as the forest kingdom of Waferdanos sprouted with a speed that defied logic, Dr. Balkus felt a sense of supreme satisfaction. Neither of the Dark Guyvers would ever be able to escape this building; even if they did manage to defeat all four of the Zoalords Isis was a worthy combatant when someone competent had control of her they would both still die when the self-destruct timer finally reached zero.

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When they reached the offices on the bottommost floor of the above-ground levels, she had begun to feel more and more uneasy. None of the Zoanoids in this base had even attempted to stand and fight them, even as she and her group of Libertus had run right past them on their way to the offices. Not one of them had even made the slightest attempt to hinder their progress.

It didn't make any sense; these people were Zoanoids, they were genetically programmed to be loyal to Chronos and trained from the time they were processed to fight to stop anyone who would try to invade any of Chronos' facilities. Her and the Libertus had to be listed at least at the same threat-level as the Guyvers, so why did none of the Zoanoids make even the slightest attempt to stop them now?

"What do you think is on this level?" she asked.

"Probably the offices of the director, or someone equally high in the managerial staff."

__

I still wonder why this place is so empty, Shizu mused. _I would have thought, with Master and Mistress assaulting the base the way they are, Chronos would have wanted to prevent anyone else from coming in. But there is no one at all manning this post. And, even stranger is the fact that I can't sense any Zoanoids at all within this base; none within two kilometers, in fact. They couldn't be afraid of us; Zoanoids don't have that kind of self-preservation instinct._

"Griselda," Kyle called, bringing her attention back to the present moment and the battle at hand. "I think the reason that none of us has encountered any opposition is that this base is set to self-destruct in a short time."

"I see," she said. "Then we'll have to move quickly; Master and Mistress will need our help to fight those Zoalords!"

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His kingdom was fully restored, and he had even taken the precaution of dispatching a pair of Subjecti to keep watch over Isis while she worked to heal Yentsui under Dr. Balkus' guidance. Hamilcal Balkus; the man he owed so much to, the man who had been willing to grant him a being not even of his _species_ a place among those who would sit at the pinnacle of the world. However, it was more than mere power that made him so very grateful for all that Hamilcal Balkus had done for him; the man had also offered him freedom and the chance to see a world that would have been forever beyond him if he had been forced to remain as he was on that island.

Such kindness deserved to be repaid in full!

"Does it surprise you, Agito Makishima, this new form of mine? Does it frighten you, perhaps? This is my kingdom! This is the true form of Waferdanos!"

As he began to hear the voices of his loyal Subjecti after so long a silence he had even begun to believe that he would be forever limited to hearing Zoanoids, he felt a moment of supreme pleasure. To know that he would once again be privileged to hear the voices of those who were closer to him than any other living creature could ever hope to be; it was truly pleasing.

__

=Oh, King. Our precious King!=

=Subjecti, hear me! We have been released from our centuries of slumber! Our purpose now stands before us: we will annihilate the Guyvers that would dare threaten this place and the people who have brought us here!=

-Balkus,- he spoke now in the way of one Zoalord to another; an artifact of his transformation and something he was not sure he would be able to use for much longer. _-Now you will have the time you need.-_

"Waferdanos, you..."

__

-This is my_ task, Hamilcal,-_ he said, using the man's name so that he would understand the depths of his sincerity. -_When the Advents left me on that island, I had thought that I would never be able to leave it. If you had not come along, then I never would have known that there was even a world beyond the island where I had been confined. You showed me that world; and for that I owe you at least this much,-_ by now, his telepathic abilities had faded, and he was left to communicate verbally. "For being the one to gift me with a Zoacrystal, even in spite of the fact that I was not even one of your own species, and for making me one of the Divine Twelve. It was a life that anyone would be proud of, and for that, my life and my Kingdom are at your complete disposal."

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He had known, intellectually, that Waferdanos was more partial toward him than any other Zoalord in the Council. Even Imakarum and Hikari, loyal as they were, showed far more deference to Lord Alkanphel than to him. It was fitting, as those two had been recreated as Lord Alkanphel's loyal servants. Dr. Balkus found it rather odd to be the subject of such adulation from anyone but a Zoanoid.

As the Subjecti continued to attack, and to be attacked in turn by Gigantic Dark and Guyver V, he could almost see the wheels turning in their crafty little brains. Neither of them was particularly stupid, he knew, so they were bound to find some way of turning this situation to their advantage. When the both of them started firing their Head Beams into the foliage, immolating it and causing fire to spread rapidly through the trees and plants that had grown over the floor of the cavern, he was not surprised.

__

Dismayed, of course, but not surprised.

The Subjecti were burning, even as they leaped and ran to escape the flames and the Guyvers who were firing at them.

"Damn them!" Waferdanos growled. "They refuse to deal with my Subjecti directly, and instead burn the forest around them! I will _not_ allow them to kill my Subjecti so blithely!"

It was an admirable sentiment; but the more Subjecti Waferdanos sent into battle, the more they were cut down with the Head Beams from the two Guyvers they were attempting to fight. It was not a situation that he would have ever wished on anyone but his own worst enemies; that it was the enemies of Chronos who had forced him into this situation was not an irony he appreciated.

"I would never have expected that the Subjecti would burn quite so well," Akane Makishima laughed. "The _forest_, yes, but the Subjecti were a rather pleasant surprise."

"Well, it seems that this whole kingdom is a threat to you now!" Agito Makishima exulted. "It's useless to resist! _Burn_, Balkus! Burn along with Yentsui, Waferdanos and that absurd little pet of yours!"

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Sitting at the top of the apartment building, shivering from the cold that knifed its way through his clothes like they weren't even there, and craving the warmth of the apartment behind him, Tokiwadaira wondered just how Aso was managing to stand it. His mentor wasn't dressed exactly the way he was, but he wasn't dressed that much warmer, and the night was really, intensely cold.

"Sensei, it's _freezing_ out here," he stated, his partially clogged nose making his voice sound funny. "It's the end of December, and we're sitting out here in the freezing cold, trying to take pictures of a battle that even our best telephoto lenses can't even make out that well. Though... I think I might have caught one of the blasts of that strange beam, but other than that I haven't been able to see anything."

"I have," Aso said, staring determinedly out at the roof of the building they were trying to observe as if he could see what was going on by sheer force of will; maybe he _could_. "The Guyver hasn't abandoned its friends, I'm sure of that. It's continuing to fight, and I think it might be pretending to have fallen into a trap."

Once again, Tokiwadaira found himself amazed at his mentor's skill. "Um, why do you support the Guyver so much, Sempai? Also, you said Guyver was a human being... I don't believe in everything Chronos says without reason, but since they've taken over, it seems like the world has gotten better. International conflicts have stopped, the world's economy has gotten much stronger, and welfare has improved drastically. Besides, the process to become a Zoanoid hasn't been made compulsory."

"Tokiwadaira, did you know that out of all the people in Tokyo two million of them have become Zoanoids?" Aso asked, his eyes still focused forward.

"Two _million_?!" he exclaimed, shocked.

"Besides that, the propaganda is getting more intensive every day. It might not be compulsory to undergo the process yet, but for all we know, it might become so later. Also, men who become Zoanoids are the first to be hired for any position. They receive special treatment in many locations. Their bodies are much stronger than a human's, and consequently they're much harder to kill."

"That sounds like a nice thing to have," he said contemplatively.

"Toki, you fool! Will you _think_?! The world will be in sorry shape if everyone believes what Chronos says so easily as you! I know there has to be something more to this Zoanoid processing than what Chronos has been letting the public see. Their promises are nothing but empty words... and I'm sure they're planning something more than what they've been saying."

"Well, they have talked about their establishment of a planetary government, and mankind's destiny being among the stars. I don't think that's really all that trustworthy, myself, but... Well, since Chronos came to power, there hasn't been any crime aside from the terrorist attacks made by the Guyvers. Everything is a lot more peaceful now."

"Peaceful? You _really_ think that? Have you already forgotten what we saw back in Akarigaoka? Those three Zoalords attacking one of their own?"

Tokiwadaira tensed, wanting to counter that statement, but having nothing to counter it with. "Shhh! You shouldn't say those kinds of things so loud, Sempai!"

"I don't know what kind of problems those men might be having with each other, but it's not normal to attack a comrade. Especially not from behind, and doubly so when he's just been fighting the Gigantic Guyver. I can't trust the explanations they give us, when they attack one of their own so blithely! Wouldn't you agree?"

"Well," he said, pausing to think about what his mentor had just said. "You do have a good point, Sempai."

"Moreover, those thirteen Zoalords of theirs; they refer to themselves as the gods of this world, but before development they were simply humans like the rest of us. I'm not entirely certain who they are, but all of them are human beings, or they were obviously human at one point in time, and that's something that we have to keep in mind."

"Sempai, keep your voice down!" he hissed, worried. "If anyone else heard what you were saying-!"

"To tell you the truth, Tokiwadaira, I do have my reasons for being as interested in the Thirteen Zoalords as I am."

"What do you mean, Aso-sempai?" he asked, surprised.

"It was seven years ago, that I met two of them," Aso said with the utmost calmness, even as Tokiwadaira thanked every god he could remember for the fact that he wasn't drinking anything at the moment; he didn't like the idea of doing a spit-take at a moment like this. "The three of us met in university, and even though they were two years behind me, we all became good friends," he chuckled deep in his throat. "In fact, I had something of a crush on his sister, though nothing really came of that. The three of us would go out together at nights, and I recommended them to the company when they were looking for work."

"You mean those two were in our profession, Aso-sempai?"

"They were," his mentor said, sounding weary and angry, but for what reason Tokiwadaira couldn't guess. "But while I was back in Japan, writing for the magazine, they were doing special correspondence overseas. The last I heard from them was just before they left for their assignment in New Guinea. Since then, it's as if they've both disappeared off the face of the Earth," Aso paused, sighing. "It wasn't just them, either. All of the staff that had been sent out there managed to vanish as if they never existed. I don't know what happened to them whether they stumbled on something they weren't meant to see, or if there was some sort of accident that happened... But I've tried every measure at my disposal to find them. All of the contacts I had made over the years I had worked at the magazine, and I even tried going to New Guinea myself," Aso sighed, long and wistful. "But there was no trace of any of the group that had been sent: not a single footprint or anything that had been left behind in the jungle. The only thing I did manage to find out was, just after Masaki, Sayuri, and the other members of the group went into the jungle, there was an 'eerie cry'."

"An eerie cry?" he repeated, curious.

"The elders said that there was some kind of 'fiendish demon' that made frequent appearances. They said that this demon had the face of a bird, the body of a great ape, and that walked on two legs like a human."

Tokiwadaira gasped; he knew now what they had to have been talking about.

"The elders, of course, blamed the outsiders who had intruded on the sacred forest. They claimed that the spirits had been angered by the trespassers and had sent the demons to take revenge on them. Of course, none of us really believed what they were saying, and in the end I had to leave without finding anything new. I went back to the magazine, back to my normal life. Then, five years later, during the summer, Chronos instigated their war of repression. Up until that day, I would have never believed that an organization like Chronos could have existed. Still, we all learned better on August 17th. While the rest of the world was in an uproar over what had happened, I started to realize that this was what had been responsible for the disappearances of Masaki, Sayuri, and all the people that had been sent with them."

Tokiwadaira was tempted to roll his eyes; his mentor didn't seem to want Chronos to be innocent in that affair. He always seemed to be determined to find something wrong with them, even in spite of all they had done for the world.

"Well, now that you know what lead me to this, I suppose I should tell you what I'm truly curious about."

__

Truly curious about? That sounded fairly obvious: Aso-sempai wanted to find out what had happened to his friends. It was really an admirable thing, but he probably could have asked Chronos to help him find them. They would probably have been more capable of finding two lost people than any one person.

"Toki, do you remember those two Zoalords that were fighting the Guyvers in the sky six months ago?"

"Yes," he said, not really sure how that related to anything. "I think they were twins; Imakarum and Hikari Mirabilis. Wait-!"

"Yeah. A pair of fraternal twins that looked almost identical," Aso said. "They covered their eyes with strange looking shades, you remember? Also, the two of them fought again in Yokohama. That was an unmitigated disaster. Still, the event I'm more concerned with is the one that happened six months ago," Aso-sempai took a deep breath. "Everyone says that Zoalords are on an entirely different level than Zoanoids; that they can fly even when they haven't transformed, and they have abilities that no Zoanoid could ever hope to match. Also, both of them fought the four Guyvers without transforming at first. But then, either Hikari got careless or one of the Guyvers got lucky, but her visor was broken," he held out a picture of a woman with long black hair. "This is a photo taken at that moment."

The woman in the photo was scowling darkly, as well she might have been since there were two bleeding cuts on both her cheeks and blood dripping down off her chin, but that wasn't what he noticed first about her. Nor was it the fact that she was pretty; what Tokiwadaira noticed first of all were Hikari Mirabilis' eyes. They were as yellow as a cat's, and slitted just the same.

As pretty a face as she had, he couldn't help feeling a slight chill as he looked at her.

"Th-this is what Hikari really looks like?" he stuttered slightly, scared of the implications; what Chronos might do if they found out that this picture had been taken... he didn't know what they would do. "How- how did you manage to get this?"

"One of my friends took this picture while he was doing photography of the Guyvers," he said. "And that wasn't the only one," he said, handing over another photo; one of a man nearly identical to Hikari; one with the same yellow eyes. "Imakarum removed his own visor just after Hikari did. I paid a lot of money for this. Now, take a look at this."

Aso handed over another photo, this one containing a two people. For a moment, Tokiwadaira wondered just what Aso-sempai was thinking when he handed him these pictures, and then he noticed the clear similarities between them. The utter and complete similarity; these four people were completely identical!

"That photo was taken by me," Aso-sempai said calmly. "Seven years ago, when my friends left Japan."

"Then... you mean," he stammered, his eyes darting from the pictures of the Zoalords to the picture of Aso-sempai's friends.

"Yes. These are Masaki and Sayuri Murakami, my friends from university who disappeared those seven years ago in New Guinea."

The only differences between the pictures were the longer hair, on both figures, and the yellow eyes that they both had. Sayuri had silver clips in her hair, and Hikari Mirabilis didn't have anything of the sort... but, aside from that, there was really nothing to distinguish the two sets of people.

"Well," he said, still looking over the two sets of twins. "Maybe... maybe they're different people who just happen to look alike. They _could_ be completely unrelated."

"Maybe," Aso-sempai said. "But I doubt it."

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Even as he watched, helpless now to do anything but watch, the Guyver named Sho Fukamachi was carried away by the Vikarr. Vikarr that by all rights should have been obeying him.

"The Vikarr that have captured Sho Fukamachi are continuing on their way up to the top of the building," the faithful Zoanoid manning the control center reported. "They're still not responding to any of our hails, Excellency."

__

I would have thought as much. "Have you determined what their ultimate destination is?"

"Their destination seems to be the top of Cloud Gate," the monitor Zoanoid said, turning to look at him briefly before he turned back to the computer.

"Understood. Thank you for keeping me informed." _hat are you three planning? It would suit their purposes to be cautious; if Sho Fukamachi were to be killed, all of their plans would come to nothing. This is an opportune moment for me to discover what those three have planned. Once Sho Fukamachi is brought to Cloud Gate, I will take the boy into my personal custody. I will_ not_ simply allow these three to run amok in Japan Section!_

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As he stood, helpless and alone at the top of the building, Toshiaki called out to Sho in the vain hope that the boy would hear him and finally act to save himself. It was all for naught, though, Sho didn't react at all, and he was rapidly getting too far away for any of his shouts to reach. When the spear slammed into the ground too near his feet, exploding the concrete, he had to leap quickly out of the way to avoid being at least seriously injured.

"So, even without your little friend to protect you, you still manage to evade me," Khan laughed. "I suppose even a _genetic mistake_ such as you has at least _some_ instinct for self-preservation."

Breathing heavily, Toshiaki resisted the urge to spit curses and invective at the Zoalord assaulting him. He would need all of his breath for fighting, and he knew the Zoalord was just trying to provoke him.

"Sho Fukamachi is now in our hands, and will soon join his pathetic sister among the ranks of Chronos' auxiliary Zoalords," Khan chuckled darkly. "And, as for you, _you_ will not live through the night. A pitiful _abomination_ such as you has no chance of defeating this creature that is under my control. Ironic, since this Aptom was once one of your fellow Lost Numbers," Khan cackled.

Still trying to get his breathing under control, Toshiaki wondered for a moment if this was the end. If his entire life, all his battles against Chronos and their Zoanoids, were meaningless in the end. If he was going to die without even having managed to rescue Aptom, to die with Sho being carried toward a Chronos processing facility, and with Yukari a mindless servant of the Zoalords.

__

No! He couldn't die here! Not without rescuing Sho, at least.

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The flapping wings of the Zoanoids carrying him away were almost painfully loud in his ears, and he wondered for a moment if this was how Yukari had felt when she was being carried through the air by Khan. But Yukari was gone; he had to focus on saving Mr. Hayami and Aptom right now.

"Guyver!"

The barrier blew the Zoanoids holding him into pieces, and as he felt the armor sealing itself closed around him, Sho fired the Head Beam into the remaining flying Zoanoids before any more of them could think to attack him. Then, with a thought, he activated the Sonic Buster and fired into the crowds of Vamore.

Once all of the Zoanoids surrounding them were dead, Sho landed back on the rooftop and stood next to Mr. Hayami. He would have to apologize later, but for now he had to deal with the Zoalord attacking them. He would have to fight Kablarl Khan.

"You little bastard! How the _hell_ did you manage to wake up like that?!"

"Sho, you just-"

"Hayami, I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry I made you worry like that, but I didn't have any other choice. I needed to be able to kill all of the Zoanoids that had us surrounded. And there wasn't any other way to get the height I needed but to let them think they had captured me."

"You little shit! You were willing to risk disarming yourself completely, even with the dire circumstances you were in?! Just so you could kill our Zoanoids?!"

"Actually, I would have been in danger of losing consciousness if that sonic barrage had continued to hit me. So I un-equipped my armor before anything like that could happen. I pretended to have fainted, and I deliberately let them capture me. Then, when the rest of the Vikarr had come into range of the Head Beam, I called the armor. You saw the rest. The two Vikarr that had captured me were annihilated, and I fired the Head Beam at the attacking Vikarr. Then, I fired the Sonic Buster at the Vamore who were standing in the balconies."

"Damn you, you little bastard!"

"And now I will defeat you, Kablarl Khan, no matter what else tries to get in my way! I will put an end to this battle!"

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"Truly impressive," Shin muttered. _He managed to completely fool myself, and even those three other Overlords. You are a worthy opponent, Sho Fukamachi._

"Your Excellency!" the controller called, drawing his attention. "If the Vikarr's ultrasonic waves were able to do that much damage to the Guyver, would you like to have the remnants of the Vikarr squadron sent after him?"

"No," he said firmly. "There is still the chance that they would fall prey to the control of those three traitors. And remove any and all of the surviving bio-blasters from the marksman windows. And make sure that all of our personnel stay within the vicinity of my mental commands!" he ordered. _Well, it seems that you three have made your move. Controlling Aptom from the sidelines the way you have done, but it seems that Sho Fukamachi is more capable than you assumed. We will see how this battle comes out._

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The little brat was beginning to task him; that he would think to use such subterfuge to kill the Zoanoids under their command. He was starting to wish that Jabir had managed to keep hold of the little girl, at least _she_ would have been able to fight the little imbecile with impunity. "So, you wish to conclude this petty little battle of ours," he laughed. "You've finally decided to attack this Aptom, your little friend who you risked so much to save. Even with all of your resolve, I _will _kill you! I will kill you with the hands of your own friend!"

Hurling his high-frequency spear at the little worm who dared think to challenge him, he cursed as the impudent little cur ducked and charged at him with obvious ill-intent. When the boy extended the Vibration Blade on his left arm, he tried to reel in the elastic arm that he had extended. But, with the high-frequency spear extended to its limits to deal with Sho Fukamachi, he was not able to reel it back in time to avoid having the arm itself completely severed by the Guyver I's left blade.

When the little cur leaped at him, blade out and obviously intending to bury the weapon in the flesh of his puppet's head, he hissed between his teeth. "Don't underestimate _me_, you insect!"

Firing bolts of electricity from the conduits on his head, he was enraged when Guyver I somehow managed to leap still higher from his original trajectory and evade the bolts he had thrown. Turning to see where the little brat would land, he caught sight of the remains of the elastic arm he had extended.

That would cause him no end of trouble if it were allowed to remain as it were. He would have to deal with it...

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When Khan fired again, Sho thought at first that he and Mr. Hayami were the targets of his bio-laser blast. But...

"He's firing in the wrong direction if he wanted to hit us," Mr. Hayami said.

"Yes. But that confirms what I was beginning to suspect," he said, as the blast of Khan's or rather Aptom's, but he couldn't think about that if he was going to be able to fight him bio-laser obliterated the remains of the severed elastic arm. "I've been thinking about it all through the battle: Kablarl has managed to control Aptom completely, even in spite of the fact that Aptom, like you, isn't supposed to be vulnerable to Zoalord control. Also, when I scanned him with my hyper-sensors the second time, I mean, I didn't find anything the first time I noticed something strange."

"Something strange?" Mr. Hayami echoed "About what?"

"About his brain," he said, as Khan continued to stare at them. "The Aptom that we're facing _has_ no brain!"

"_WHAT_?!"

"In its place is some kind of fake, constructed from another group of cells."

"A fake brain inside Aptom's body? But wait, why doesn't it get absorbed by Aptom's cells if it's there? I thought Aptom was able to absorb any kind of foreign biological matter."

"Well, that's the problem: _this_ fake brain of theirs manages to deceive the cells of Aptom's body by mimicking the electrical activity of Aptom's brain. That's how it manages to fool Aptom's cells into not devouring it the way they normally would. When Aptom's body was reconstructing itself, the cells perceived the presence of a brain, so they didn't regenerate it. So the false brain that was implanted in Aptom's body was able to act as a transmitter to Kablarl, who was in a position where he could watch the battle and take part in it by using Aptom."

"But, when could this false brain could have been introduced? We were both there when Aptom regenerated. There wouldn't have been any time for anyone to implant something like this without us knowing about it."

"I think the body of that Hyper Zoanoid was prepared beforehand to be assimilated by Aptom so that he could be controlled. It was it _had_ to be a trap set for Aptom. And I understand now why Kablarl used the particle beam those two times, even though using it leaves him vulnerable to attack: he needed to burn away any pieces of Aptom that had been severed from the main mass."

"So _that's_ why. I think I understand now, too," Mr. Hayami said. "Any Aptom cells separated from the whole for a prolonged period of time would begin to undergo ontogenesis. All of the cells would begin rapidly evolving into more complex forms. This could lead to the regeneration of Aptom's original brain, and his release from Kablarl's control."

"Yes. And that's what they're afraid of," he said firmly. "I'm sure of it. Anyway, we should try to get hold of enough Aptom cells to start the ontogenesis."

"Yes," Mr. Hayami said. "If we can manage to keep it safe from Kablarl's attacks, we should be able to use it to restore our Aptom."

Nodding to himself, even as Kablarl transformed the stump of Aptom's severed arm into a mass of spikes, Sho breathed deeply and resolved that this time would be different. This time, they would rescue Aptom, no matter what Kablarl did to stop them. No matter what, they would bring Aptom back.

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As he faced the Zoalord that was hiding behind Aptom, controlling him so that Sho would hesitate to attack for fear of hurting his friend, Toshiaki couldn't help but admire Sho's resolve. It was the same kind of resolve that Professor Yamamura had demonstrated; the same kind of resolve that Murakami, his sister, Odagiri, and all of their comrades had demonstrated.

And now here he was, the last of them to have survived in any real capacity, facing one of the very people that had caused them so much grief.

"So, you managed to discover the secret of my dummy brain," Kablarl cackled. "But, you still need to cut off a piece of the main body to bring your little friend back. Let's see if you _can_!"

"That weapon on his left hand," Sho muttered, obviously speaking more for his own benefit than that of anyone else. "It's... changing."

"If you little worms want some samples of your friend's body, then I'll _feed_ you some!"

A barrage of bio-missiles flew from the launcher on Kablarl's left arm, filling the air with a rain of deadly projectiles.

"Mr. Hayami, duck!" Sho shouted, firing at one of the missiles just as it turned toward them.

That missile exploded into flying debris, but Kablarl was quick to launch more of them. Reassuring Sho that he was all right, he had to dive forward to evade another barrage of missiles.

"Damn him!" he growled. "Even _Aptom_ won't be able to regenerate from those missiles! He's just showing off with those! He's obviously aiming for us, and more than that he's trying to keep all of Aptom's cells to himself."

"We can't even know when the next attack is going to come," Sho said, sounding wary. "Still, those bio-missiles of his are made from the cells of Aptom's body, so it will take Kablarl awhile to regenerate them."

"Then, that could be our chance to get close enough to get the cell samples we need to have to restore the Aptom we know back to us."

"Yes, I think that would be our best chance to get close," Sho said, nodding.

"Well then little boys, I'll give you your chance to get your samples," Kablarl said, cackling wickedly. "I won't, however, make it _easy _for you!"

"He fired all of them?!" he exclaimed, horrified by the veritable storm of missiles that were now circling them like some evil parody of a planetary system.

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__

This can't_ be the end!_ he thought desperately; he still hadn't managed to rescue Aptom from Kablarl's control. Still, even if he had to go through all twelve Zoalords to do it, he would rescue at least one of his close friends from Chronos.

"It's a little late to notice things _now_, you pathetic fools," Kablarl sneered.

He wondered for a moment what the Zoalord was talking about now, when all of the missiles that had been circling them suddenly turned inward.

"You're _dead_, boy!" Kablarl shrieked triumphantly. "You and that little genetic mistake you call a comrade! Once this barrage of missiles hits, your body will be ground into _paste_! You don't even have your precious Gigantic's barrier to hide behind! Even if you did, these missiles are a part of your friend," Kablarl laughed cruelly. "Are you certain that you're willing to risk hurting your friend just to get to me?!"

Leaping into the air just as all of the missiles turned inward and flew at him, he grabbed Mr. Hayami at the apex of his own leap and carried him farther into the air than either of their own muscles could have carried them even with their many enhancements. Deactivating the Gravity Controller, Sho let himself fall back toward the rooftop as he extended the Vibration Blade on his right arm. Slashing downward, he watched in horror as Kablarl vanished from sight.

"Wha-?!"

"Sho, I think this might be that Zoanoid's power," Mr. Hayami said.

"Yeah," he muttered, nodding. "That stealth Zoanoid that Aptom absorbed when he first escaped from that stone shell."

Kablarl's laughter, high and hysterical and evil-sounding, sounded then. "Is something wrong, children?" he laughed again. "What made _either _of you think that you could lay even a _hand_ on me? It was rather clever of you, using the Gravity Controller to evade the missile barrage, then coming at me both at once after all of the missiles had detonated. But I, Kablarl Khan, had already seen everything!"

"Mr. Hayami, be careful! He could be right beside you!"

Mr. Hayami tensed, going motionless for a moment just before a gout of bright red blood exploded out of his upper chest.

"Mr. Hayami?!"

"Don't-" Mr. Hayami gasped, choking and struggling to get the words out. "Don't come- near me, Sho!"

"Mr. Hayami! What's happening?!"

"Oops, that's close enough, little boy!" Kablarl laughed, holding Mr. Hayami's bleeding body up like some kind of sick trophy. "If you come even one step closer, I might have to hurt your little friend here!"

"_Bastard_! Let him go!"

"Don't take another _step_, Sho Fukamachi!" Kablarl cackled. "My claws are wrapped around your little friend's heart; it would only take a little bit of a squeeze, just a twitch of my puppet's muscles, to drive these talons through the organ I have in my hands," Kablarl laughed, low and cruel. "It would only take a little squeeze to kill this little friend of yours."

Mr. Hayami screamed, gasping and panting and writhing as Kablarl's claws dug into the flesh of his chest. Mr. Hayami was even holding his own bleeding chest in an attempt to stem the flow of blood.

"Stop it!" he shouted, his voice quavering slightly. "Let him go!" he shouted, more firmly.

"Well, we are at an impasse," Kablarl said, sounding only slightly annoyed. "I have full control of your friend's physical functions, and now I quite literally hold the life of your other little friend in my hands. Neither of us will yield to the other, and each wants to be the one to kill their respective enemy. This battle of ours likely won't progress from here; however, I still have the upper hand! This worthless Lost Number that you call your comrade is in my hands now! And, unlike the two of us, your little friend is comparatively fragile, easy pickings for one such as _I_! So, if you truly value the life of this creature, then you will surrender that Control Medal of yours to me!" Kablarl laughed harshly.

"You- think you've already won, Kablarl?" Mr. Hayami demanded, breathing heavily but still holding on to Kablarl's arm. "And still, you haven't noticed- that you've just made a _fatal_ mistake!"

Mr. Hayami started exuding cold, blanketing the rooftop in freezing mist and covering Kablarl with a thin layer of frost.

"_Damn_ you, you little _maggot_!" Kablarl growled. "I'll shut you up once and for all!"

Kablarl squeezed, and Sho screamed as Hayami thrashed and started bleeding. He was sure that Hayami was going to die; sure that he was going to lose another of his good friends to Chronos. Mr. Hayami was the last one; the last one that he hadn't failed and lost. He _had_ to save him!

"Don't- come any closer- Sho," Mr. Hayami gagged out through the blood streaming from his mouth. "You'll- get caught up in it- too."


End file.
